
LA 

y jx 



HUNGARIAN REFERENCE 
LIBRARY 




Property of 
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



:^ 




NEW YORK, N, Y, 



V* 



LIBRARY 



0*1|-| 



THE 



SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 




Dr. Gk ar^EEFFI, 



Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature ; Fellow of the Royal Historical Society; 
One of the Lecturers of Her Britannic Majesty's Department of 

Science and Art. 



WITH AN INTRODUCTORY LETTER 

- BY 



K. SUYEMATZ, 

Of Japan. 



PRINTED AS MANUSCRIPT. 



<^AN REF£^ 



NtW YORK, N. Y, 



LONDON. 



1879. 

vlll B'igTiis of Publication, Translation, and Reproduction are Reserved. 



pl2> 



LONDON : 

W. H. AND L. COLLINGRIDGE, PRINTERS, CITY PRESS, 

128 AND 129, ALDERSGATE STREET, EX. 






1 N 




■Q 



PREFACE. 



To the scientific treatment of History I have devoted 
a long life's earnest study, and have undertaken the 
task of presenting some of the results of my labours in 
a comprehensive form, in accordance with the Intro- 
ductory Letter, addressed to me by Mr. Keuchio 
Suyematz, of the Japanese Legation, which I publish 
below. 

I have therefore written this book especially for 
Japanese scholars, and have striven to leave nothing 
untouched that might serve to make them acquainted 
with the free and independent mode of thinking in the 

^West. I have pointed out the technical means for 
the construction of History, and have propounded a 

;' philosophical method of reading and writing it. 

Side by side with this, I have given an outline 
sketch, on a scientific basis, of the gradual development 
of Humanity from ancient classic to our own times. I 
have referred to the most important historical authori- 
ties, which scholars ought to consult. Possibly the 
Japanese Government, or munificent private patrons, 

A 2 



\ 



IV PREFACE. 

may be induced to have some of those works trans- 
lated into Japanese, and thus enrich their vast 
Literature from the treasure-house of European His- 
toriography. 

I have been compelled to touch upon questions, 
perhaps of no apparent interest to Japanese scholars, 
such as the Influence . of Judaism and Christianity on 
the historical development of Europe. It would, how- 
ever, be idle for any one to believe that he could even 
superficially understand, far less thoroughly grasp, the 
marvellous phenomena of our progressive civilization, 
without a correct appreciation of the part which religion 
has played in the destinies of the West. It would be 
as futile, as to write Chinese History, and omit all 
reference to Confucius. 

I have throughout endeavoured to keep on strictly 
historical ground, and to describe the different social, 
political and religious phenomena with the impartiality 
of an unbiassed observer. I should have been guilty of 
gross, neglect had I not attempted, step % by step, to 
trace, in connection with Historiography, the causes of 
which the historical phenomena were the effects. 

My book furnishes, firstly, a Theory with regard to 
the scientific treatment of History ; secondly, a synop- 
tical History of the development of humanity in 
Classical, Mediaeval and Modern Times ; and, thirdly, a 
Bibliography, critically enumerating the most im- 



PREFACE. Y 

portant writers, who have reflected the spirit of the 
times in their works. 

I have not been deterred by the vastness of the 
task, for I think that the principal aim of a book, like 
this, lies in suggesting and stimulating students to a 
mental activity which must lead them to self-thought, 
research and inquiry, and, through these, to a higher 
intellectual culture. This aim I have conscientiously fur- 
thered to the best of my power. I have placed the rich 
stores of European Historiography before Japanese 
scholars ; it will be their duty to make use of them. 
An earnest study of my work will enable them to write 
their own History on a scientific basis, and to trace 
the causes of their entirely different development. 

GL GL ZEBFFI. 

London, October 15, 1879. 



INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 

By K. SUYEMATZ, of JAPAN. 



Sir, 

I have long been of opinion that it would be of 
great advantage to the scholars of the Japanese Empire, 
of which Empire I am myself a subject, to have placed 
before them an account of the most celebrated Histories 
and Historians of ancient and modern times. 

And the reasons which have induced me to entertain 
this opinion are as follows : — 

Although Oriental nations, especially the Chinese 
and Japanese, are rich in historical works ; and although 
much greater prominence is assigned to them than to 
other branches of their literature, yet their Histories in 
general, and among them in an equal degree also those 
which have been written by Japanese, are characterized 
by features peculiar to themselves, and differ consider- 
ably from those of the Western World in their treat- 
ment of this important subject. 

For in most of them the narrative of facts is seldom 
treated conjointly with philosophical reflections. In my 
country at the present time the universal tendency is 
to adopt whatever is most excellent and worthy of imi- 
tation in European culture and experience ; and this 
remark applies with equal force to European literature, 
the peculiar excellence of which the Japanese could but 
appreciate. 

Under these circumstances, there are many Japanese 
scholars who desire more especially to make themselves 



Vlll INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 

acquainted with the style, plan, and method pursued by 
the most eminent Historians of the Western nations, to 
write the history of their own country in accordance 
with these models. 

For these reasons I have thought that it would be 
beneficial to such scholars, if a synoptical view of the 
most excellent Histories and Historians were placed 
before them. 

I have therefore drawn up the outlines of a book in 
which the above-mentioned idea should be developed and 
carried out, and I confide the execution of the literary 
work to you now. The main object of it being to place 
before Japanese scholars, who desire to write the history 
of their own country, the most excellent European 
models ; you will be especially careful to bear this in 
mind, and not to omit anything which may be conducive 
to this purpose. You will also be particular to assign para- 
mount importance to that part of the subject which relates 
especially to the great advantages, which result from the 
due combination of facts and philosophy in the course of 
the same History; and to point out, how infinitely 
greater is the benefit, derived from the work in which 
events are thoughtfully traced to their causes, and con- 
nected with their consequences, than from the work in 
which the writer recounts a long series of facts, deducing 
no lessons from them, and thinking, that when he has 
enumerated them, he has done all that was necessary. 

I am, Sir, yours truly, 

K. SUYEMATZ, of Japan. 

11, Colyille Square, Bayswater, London, W., 
Uh March, 1879=2539. 



INSTRUCTIONS. 



1. State the great importance of the study of His- 
tory ; the difficulties which have to be encountered in 
the composition of History ; and the personal qualifica- 
tions necessary in a Historian. 

2. Enumerate those great authors who, by the com- 
mon consent of mankind, have realized the ideal of 
what a Historian should be ; and show, how the 
Historian of the present day should familiarize himself 
with the principles which guided them, and with the 
methods which they followed, if he himself too should 
desire to attain similar excellence. Be careful not 
only to enumerate these authors, but also to point out 
the great qualities which peculiarly fitted them for their 
task, and the course of training which they underwent, 
in order to qualify themselves for it ; confine yourself 
first to the greatest Historians of Greece. 

3. Similarly enumerate and criticise the greatest 
Roman Historians. 

4. In like manner enumerate and criticise the greatest 
modern Historians, whether English, French, or Grer- 
man, &c. ; not forgetting to make previous mention of 
any mediseval writers, should you deem any of them 
to be worthy of mention. 



X INSTRUCTIONS. 

5. After thus giving an account of the most eminent 
of the ancient and modern Historians, turn to the 
consideration of History itself, and classify it into the 
numerous species into which it may be divided and 
subdivided, commenting on the difference of the style. 
Show how one Historian will simply recount events as 
they occurred, making little or no comment upon them ; 
and how another, while narrating events, will be careful 
to connect them with their preceding causes, and with 
the consequences to which they gave birth. State how 
infinitely superior the one of these two methods of 
treating History must necessarily be to the other, in 
the concluding chapter of the work, in which will be 
given a general review of the relative merits of the 
different methods of treating History. 

6. After the preceding division and subdivision of 
History into its various classes, proceed to give an 
Historical retrospect of Histories and Historians from 
the earliest times to the present. Criticise first such 
universal Histories as the Europeans possess, giving 
the names of their authors and forming an estimate of 
the manner, in which they have accomplished their task. 
Then pass on to the consideration of particular His- 
tories, whether ancient, mediaeval or modern. Take 
these Histories in chronological order, commencing with 
ancient Histories, and being careful to mention only 
those which are worth mentioning. State the names 
of their authors, and the events of which they treat. 

7. State the sources from which Historians derive 
their information, in what way they collect their 
materials, and the difficulties which have sometimes 
been thrown in their way, especially before the freedom 
of the press became an accomplished fact. Eemark 



INSTRUCTIONS. XI 

upon great rulers like Caesar, Frederick the Great, and 
Napoleon ; and great statesmen like Clarendon, Thiers, 
and Ghiizot, who have beguiled their severer labours by 
the composition of History. 

8. Having thus given a History of Histories and 
Historians, from the earliest times to the present, point 
out the lessons which would naturally suggest them- 
selves to those who have taken the trouble to peruse 
such a work, and show of what paramount importance 
these lessons will be to those, who propose to devote 
themselves either to Historical composition or to the 
study of History. Show how it will be evident from 
the facts which we have stated, that the best Historians 
have always been careful to lay before themselves a 
clear and definite plan of the works which they have 
undertaken — how they have subordinated trivial to 
great events, and how they have carried out consistently, 
from the beginning to the end, that scheme which they 
originally framed. 

9. Show that the Historian who proposes to give to 
us the History of a country or of a people, will have to 
narrate not only, as Macaulay says, battles and sieges, 
not only the rise and fall of administrations, intrigues 
in the palace, and debates in the Parliament, but the 
History of the people, the rise and progress of useful 
and ornamental arts, of religious sects, and of all those 
numerous changes which have taken place in the life 
and in the manners of successive generations, and, 
above all, their modes of thinking. 

10. Show how that form of History is the noblest 
and the most useful which, while faithful in the narra- 
tive of events, is also the most painstaking in deducing 
the philosophical lessons which result from them, and 



Xll INSTRUCTIONS. 

which places before us, at one and the same time, a 
combined view of them both. Show that it is only in 
this way that the true ideal of a History can be 
realized, and that those Historians who have con- 
ceived and executed their task on this principle, have 
achieved the most permanent renown, and taught the 
most enduring and useful lessons to mankind. 

11. Show that History in this form, and with the 
above-mentioned qualifications, is the most useful and 
attractive of all forms of History, in that it combines 
into one harmonious whole the many different points of 
view from which the subject may be considered, and 
gives to us a knowledge both of the facts themselves 
and of the philosophy which they teach. History, 
when adequately treated by a man who unites within 
himself those numerous and important qualifications, 
whose union can alone constitute the true Historian, 
will give to us in rich profusion lessons which, derived 
from the experience of the past, will serve to guide 
and regulate the future. Show how Historians, like 
Yoltaire in France, have, by their combined philo- 
sophy and eloquence, been sometimes authors of Revo- 
lutions in thought and feeling, which have, in their 
turn, paved the way for changes in dynasties and 
thrones. 

12. Show how, with the same materials at his com- 
mand, one man will hopelessly blunder in his arrange- 
ment of them, and will fail to deduce any useful lesson 
from them; while another, moulding them into form 
like Gruizot, or like Buckle, will evolve from them the 
philosophy of History, and analyze for us the growth 
of civilization. Once more, show finally how the great 
end and aim of History should be, to teach men so to 



INSTRUCTIONS. Xlll 

utilize the lessons, which have been bequeathed to us 
by the past, that they may steer clear of the errors of 
their forefathers, and establish for themselves, and hand 
down to their successors, those laws, customs and insti- 
tutions which will best promote and accelerate the 
permanent and progressive amelioration of their own 
country and of the human race. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Preface Page iii 

Introductory Letter by K. Suyematz . . . . . . ,> vii 

CHAPTER I. 

The definition of the -word History — Whether a scientific treatment of 
History be possible — What constitutes Science — Analogy of Facts — 
Man — Mind and Matter — Forces governed by Law — Statics and 
Dynamics — Morals and Intellect — The final aim of Humanity — 
Civilization — Animals in nature — Man in nature — His progressive 
development — Humanity in its primitive savage condition — Action 
and reaction in the present phases of the development of Humanity 
— What Civilisation really is — To what the study of History must 
resolve itself — Results of a one-sided treatment of the two forces 
working in Humanity — : The oneness in the phenomena of History — 
Division of History — How to compose and write History — Dr. 
Maudsley on the possibility of discovering laws in History— The 
three false principles on which a solution of History was attempted 
— The rule of Chance — Predestination, or Providence — Free-will — 
Primary or direct, and secondary or indirect causes — Physical and 
moral Laws — Hypothetical arguments not admissible in History — 
What a finished Historical work ought to be — Auxiliary Sciences 
of History — Prejudice and Conventionalism— Purpose of our work 
The usefulness of History treated in detail — The principal lessons 
History teaches — We are endowed with an innate taste for the 
study of History — Similarity of moral laws — History the conscious- 
ness of Humanity — Ignorance of general History — Space and Time 
in their effects on Historians—Diplomatists and Politicians — 
Soldiers — Jurists — Theologians and Philosophers — History the 
" Science of Sciences " .. pp.1 — 64 

CHAPTEE II. 

Origin and language of the Greeks — Asia as the region of Civilization — ■ 
The black races are without Chronicles and History — The yellow 
races have Chronicles and a stationary History — The white races 
have a fluctuating progressive History — The geographical configu- 



XVI TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

ration of Asia — The Egyptians in Africa — The Egyptian develop- 
ment was like that of the Chinese and Indians, hone-sprung — 

Persians, Assyrian?, Babylonians, and Hebrews — Javeh, the invisible 
autocrats of the Hebrews — No History in Asia and Africa — Europe 
and its geographical configuration — First European centre — Second 
European centre — Third European centre — Greece and Egypt — The 
Egyptian Mystery — The Greek solution of it — Greek History, from 
a general point of view — Geographical position of Greece — Variety, 
symmetry and harmony — The principal component elements of 
Greek classic times —Persian and Hebrew dualism — The Greeks 
spread a feeling of independent freedom — Greek Theogonies and 
Cosmogonies — The blending together of the Human and Divine — 
Character of the Greek gods — Greek poets and lawgivers the 
founders of the state-principle — Greek influence still felt all over 
the civilized world — The degeneration and evolution hypothesis — 
The mythic period of Greek History — The heroic period of Greek 
History — Greek genealogies — The Argonautic expedition — Charac- 
ter of ancient records — Jason, the leader of the Argonautic expedi- 
tion — Landing at Lemnos — The Argonauts pass the coast of Thrace 
— They reach Kolchis — They circumnavigate the then known 
earth — How to treat such records — The Greek Geographer, Strabo — 
The Theban legends — The legend of King Lykus and Dirke — 
Antiope. and her two sons — Character of Amphion — Character of 
Zetus — King Laius, and (Edipus, his son — The consequences of the 
prophecy about (Edipus — The mystic Sphinx near Thebes — Mean- 
ing of the Sphinx — (Edipus made king — Moral of the myth — End 
of the pre-Homerie period — Greek History at its beginning — Lyrics 
and Epics — Myths and their application — Historical facts con- 
tained in them — The subjugation of different nationalities— The 
siege of Troy — The " Iliad " and the " Odyssee " — Epic poets and 
Historians — Homer's merits — Primitive state of society — Agricul- 
turists and seafarers — Beef-eaters and fish-eaters — The kings — 
Difference between Iliad and Odyssee — The position of women — 
The gods in the Odyssee and the Iliad — Homer's potins — Hesiod — 
The political organiza ion of the Greeks — Spartans — Lykurgus — 
Athens — Theseus — Solon — Epamenides — The principal Logo- 
graphers of Greece .. .. .. .. .. pp.55 — 144 



CHAPTEE III. 

The gradual development of Greek History — Contest between "West and 
East — Herodotus — The style of his composition — Solon and Krcesus 
— Democracy, Oligarchy and Monarchy — Herodotus on the Persians 
andEgyp ians — Thukydides — Principal qualities in Thukydides — 
Specimens of his style — Xenophon— Characteristics of Xenophon 
as a Historian — Xenophon's works — Xenophon as specialist — Speci- 
mens of his style — The introduction of Rhetorics by Isokrates — 
Alexander the Great — Historians of the second period of Greek 
History — Ktesias — Geographers and local Historiographers — Influ- 
ence of Alexander the Great on History — The distinguished writers 
of the third period of Greek History — Richness of the Historical 
Literature of the Greeks .. .. .. .. pp.145 — 225 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XV11 

CHAPTEE IY. 

Borne and the Romans — The geographical position of Italy — Ethnical 
elements of the Romans — Analogy between Greeks and Eomans — 
The organizat on ot the family — The administration of Justice — 
The Etruskans — Their probable origin — Their political organization 
— The periods of Roman History — Romulus and Remus — The 
political and social condition of the early Romans — Patricians — 
Clientes— Plebeians — Origin of the Tribes — Numa Pompilius — 
Tullus Hostilius — Ancus Maicius — Lucius Tarquinius Priscus — 
Servius Tullius — Lucius Tarquinius Surerbus — The Historians of 
the Royal Mythic Period — Rome a Republic — The wars of the 
Republic — Greek Historians on Rome — Polybius — Dionysius of 
Halikarnassus — Diodorus Siculus — The Roman Historians of this 
period — Annalists — Historians — Cornelius Nepos — Julius Csesar — 
Caius Salluslius Crispue — Titus Livy — The third period of Roman 
History — Marcus Tullius Cicero — The Roman Empire — Seven causes 
of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Greek and Roman 
Bistorians — Plutarch — Dio Cassius — Velleius Paterculus — Valerius 
Maximus — Tacitus — His woiks — His style — His book on Ger- 
many — Quintus Curtius Rufus — Suetonius — Comic and satirical 
■writings — Newspapers — Florus — The six writers of the Imperial 
History — Eutropius — Marcellmus — Seneca — Quintilianus — Pliny 
the Younger — Pliny the Elder — Galenus — Ptolemy — Pausanias — 
Lucian — Petronius Arbiter — Martialis — Two new factors in History 
— The Romans and their destiny , , . . , , pp. 226 — 389 

CHAPTEE V. 

Christianity and the migration of the North European people — Chris- 
tianity the universal storehouse of all creeds — Univtrsalism per- 
vading Christianity — The Jews — History of the Jt"ws — Jewish 
teaching — The Tree of Knowledge — The Jews the most important 
agents in the History of the West — The different Messiahs — The 
different sects of the Jews — The " Septuagint" — History turned into 
religion — Faith, not knowledge, required — Description of the social 
condition of Humanity at the birth of Jesus of Nazareth — Universal 
love the essence of Christianity — Christ's conception of the Deity — 
The revolutionary elements of Christ's teachings — The causes of 
the spread of Christianity — Eastern influences on Christianity — 
Buddha and Christ— Difference between Christianity and Budd- 
hism — Mysticism profitable— Constantine the Great — Gnostics — 
Manicheans — Novatians — Arians — Athanasians — The teachings of 
Jesus vanish more and more — No reliable Historians — Chroniclers — 
Biographers — Miracles — Dogmatics — Fathers and Apologists — Ob- 
jections of the Jews and Heathens to Christianity — Celsus — Lueian 
— Porphyrius — Hierokles — Julian, the Apostate — Justin Martyr — 
Atbenagoras — Irenasus— Theopbilus — Tatian — Hermias — Clemens 
— Origen— Eusebius — Basil the Great — Cyril and Hypatia — Tertul- 
lian — Ambrose — Augustine— The Trinity of Augustine compared 
with the conception ot the Trinity in the R&mayana — A maxim of 
Confucius — Teutons and Latins — The "Confessions " of Augustine 
compared with those of Rousseau — The Jews as Historians — Philo 

A3 



XVlil TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Judaeus — Flavius Josephus — Fraud and falsehood cannot be excused 
because framed in honour of God . . . . « . pp. 390 — 522 

CHAPTEE YI. 

The North In do-Europeans or European Aryans — Greek and Roman 
writers on the Teutons — The two religious Agents amongst the 
Teutons — History their element — Similarity of Epic poetry — 
Affinity of language — The cosmogony and mythology of the 
Teutons — Character of the Teuton gods— The social character of 
the Teutons— Extension of Teutonic influence in Europe— The 
three periods of Historical development — The three Historical phases 
corresponding to these three periods — Mythological and Historical 
" Sagas" — The vast Historical literature of these epochs — Snorre 
Sturleson — The Imperial Chronicle — Chivalry — Importance of 
Chivalry to Historians — Reineke the Fox — Romances— Abbot 
Herigers — Chronicles of Ethel werd— Annals by Asser of St. David's 
— Geoffrey, Archdeacon of Monmouth — Lud's town, London — 
Difficulties incurred by Historians in England — The wizard Merlin 
— Arthur — The Scotch and Irish Chronicles— The Eastern or Greek 
Christians— The Arabs— Mahomet — Same cause must produce the 
same effect — The Hegira — The Crusades— How to study the Cru- 
sades — Tho six primary causes of the Crusades — The writers on the 
Crusades — Effects of the Crusades — Froissart— Inventions and Dis- 
coveries — Gunpowder — Foundation of Universities — Nature and 
History — John Reuchl in— Erasmus of Rotterdam — Sir Thomas 
More — Dante — Revival of learning and art in Italy — Luther — 
Michael Angelo — No History during this period— Criticism and 
Scepticism— Lord Francis Bacon— The idols of the tribe — The idols 
of the cave— The idols of the market-place — The idols of the theatre 
or lecture-hall — Facts and fact-mongers — How we treated Histori- 
ography — How not to write History — Changes in the Historical 
relations of nations .. •• .. .. .. pp.523 — 634 

CHAPTEE VIT. 

The Reformation and the Renaissance— The Spanish Monarchy and its 
extent — Eogland and the spiiit of modern times —Germany — France 
—Cardinal Richelieu— The conflict of intellect with reality in 
Germany— Frederick the Great — The Church and her position — 
The Thirty Years' War— Italian Historians of the Sixteenth 
Century— Guicciardini — Adriani — Nicolo Machiavelli — Jacopo 
Nardi— Bernardo Segni — A-mmirat i — Del Bianca — England's His- 
torians of the Sixteenth Century— Walter Raleigh— William Oldys 
— Holling-hed— William Harrison — John Hooker— John Stow — 
John Leland — John Twyne — Hector Boyce, or Boethius — John 
Major — George Buchanan— John Lesly - Spenser, Chaucer and 
Shakespeare — Importance of Shakespeare to Historians — German 
Historians during the Sixteenth Century. — Sebastian Frank — 
Joachim Cario — Borlinus — M. Dresser — Melanchthon — Paul Eber — 
John Philipson (called Sleidanu*) — Revival of newspapers — "The 
Eng ish Mercurio " — Beatus Rhenanus— Albert Kr.intz— Lucas 
David— Egidius Tschudi— French Historians during the Sixteenth 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XIX 

Century— Jean du Tillet— Claude Fauchet — Bernard de Girard — 
Joan of Arc — Memoirs more cultivated in France — Paradin — 
Francois Hotman — Nicolas Barnaud — Marguerite de Valois — 
Bourdeille (Brantome) — Salmasius — Historiography in Italy during 
the Seventeenth Century-*— Paolo Sarpi — Sforza Pallavicini — His- 
toriography in England during the Seventeenth Century — Samuel 
Daniels— John Selden — Arthur Wilson — George Bate — The "Grand 
Remonstrance " — The Earl of Clarendon — David Hume — Sir Philip 
Warwick — Francis Walsingham — Francis Oshorn — Bustrode 
Whitelock — Gilbert Burnet — Sir William Temple — John Rush- 
worth — David Home — William Drummond — Historiography in 
Germany during the Seventeenth Century — Godofredus — Leutholff 
— Londorp — Samuel Pufendorf — G. W. Leibnitz — Kepler and 
Galileo — Harvey — Tschirnhausen — Halley — Lange — Souvigny 
— Historiography in France during the Seventeenth Century — Du- 
pleix — Mezeray — Varillas — Peronne — Patin — De Sandras — Sir 
Isaac Newton — Tallemand de Reaux — John Locke — Benedict Spi- 
noza — The three divisions of learning — Faith and knowledge — 
Agnostics — Credulity no proof of truth — Locke the founder of a 
new school — Basedow — Spinoza was called an atheist — Faith and 
prejudice — The study of Locke and Spinoza — The great Deistic 
writers of England — Shaftesbury — Toland — Collins — Tindal — 
Wollaston — Morgan — Mandeville — Chubb — Viscount Bolingbroke 
— His "Letters on the Study and Use of History" — Art in 
History — Genius and Study — Opponents of Bolingbroke — Boling- 
broke's method — Historiography in Italy during the Eighteenth and 
Nineteenth Centuries — Vico — Muratori— Cesare Cantu — Histori- 
ography in Englaud during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth 
centuries — History in schools — " Universal History " — William 
Robertson — David Hume — Edward Gibbon — William Mitford — 
Conop Thirl wall — George Grote — Adam Ferguson — John Blair 
— James Moore — Joseph Priestley — Tobias Smollett — William 
Tytler — John Lingard — Sir James Mackintosh — Lord Macaulay — 
A specimen of Lord Macaulay's descriptive power — Charles Fox — 
James Macpherson — John de Lolme — Hallam — Dr. Strauss — Renan 
— Professor Seely — Buckle — Lecky — Green — Sir Walter Scott — 
Carlyle — Historiography in France during the Eighteenth and 
Nineteenth Centuries — Montesquieu— Bossuet — Voltaire — Rousseau 
— The Encyclopaedists — Millot — Lacre telle — Mignet — Thiers — 
Guizot — Du Halde — Karapfer — Du Perron — Burnouf — Volney — 
Historiography in Germany during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth 
Centuries — Thomasius — Gries^ach — Wegelin — Lessing — Herder — 
Fichte — Immanuel Kant — S helling— Stahl — Hegel — Schlegel — 
William von Humboldt — Gitterer — Schlozer — Moser — M tiller — 
Heeren — Bohlen — Poiitz — Roiteck — Schlosser — Arndt — Weber — 
Becker — The Prince Consort in England — Frederick Schiller — The 
Opponents of History — Natural Selection— Wars and their effects — 
Law and Order — Conclusion pp.635 — 773 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



CHAPTER I. 



One of the most important, and at the The ded- 
same time most neglected, studies in the ^ tion °^ 
West as well as in the East is History. The HiXry. 
word itself comes from the Greek laro^ v 
(historein), and means : to observe, to inquire, 
to experience, or to relate. History treats 
of facts, the deeds done by man. The com- 
plicated actions of men are therefore the 
phenomena to be dealt with in history. But 
the question _ whether all actions in their 
isolated details are worthy of a historical 
treatment presents itself to the historian at 
the outset, and is by no means easy of solu- 
tion. Observations, inquiries, and relations 
become only then scientific when they are 
systematized, when we begin to discover a 
connection between facts and facts, like that 
which we trace between the causes and effects 
of any other phenomena in the material 
world, and in what are called the applied 
or technical sciences. 



B 



2 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Whether 
a scientific 
trea* merit 
of History- 
is possi- 
ble. 

What con- 
stitutes 
Science. 



-Analogy 
of Facts. 



The next question must necessarily be 
whether such a scientific treatment of history 
is possible ? 

Before we attempt to answer this question 
we must make ourselves acquainted with the 
elements that constitute science. Wherever 
we can trace in phenomena, of whatever 
nature, the action of forces working according 
to certain laws, we may treat such phenomena 
scientifically. In going through the reliable 
records of the Chinese, Greeks, Egyptians, 
Hebrews, Romans, French, Italians, or Eng- 
lish we may discern certain analogies in the 
fact that similar causes produced similar 
effects. Prejudices, whether they be national 
or religious, hinder the progress of science. 
Sciences, if based on mere assumptions, lead 
to error, and an utter neglect of reality. 
Ambition, if fostered in rulers and their prin- 
cipal attendants must necessarily be followed 
by bloodshed, warfare, and revolutions. A 
one-sided culture of symbolism produces 
mysticism and superstition. States that were 
bent on mere conquests were in the end 
conquered themselves. States that sank into 
indolence or ignorance failed to preserve their 
political and social independence, and fell a 
prey to their more active and intellectual 
neighbours. In all these historical phe- 
nomena we find the same causes producing 
the same effects, however varied the special 
forms may have been that brought about 
these general results. In these facts, which 
cannot be contested, lies the first germ of 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



the possibility of a scientific treatment of 
history. 

But we may go further. The most import- Man. 
ant agent in history is undoubtedly man, of 
whatever race or nation. Man himself has a 
definite, though complicated, nature. Man Mind and 
consists of matter, forming the constituent Matter " 
particles of his body ; and of mind, as the 
active element of his sensations, perceptions, 
and consciousness. Man has therefore a 
double nature, composed of matter and mind ; 
but matter and mind, the former as the ele- 
ment acted upon, and the latter as the acting 
element, must be subject to law, for both are F °^rned 
but different effects of force. All forces, hj\lw. 
however, are governed by laws, more or less 
complicated, which, when traced in man, will 
at once enable us to treat him scientifically as 
a unit ; but if the unit may be brought under 
scientific laws, it must be equally possible 
to range a vast number of these units under 
the same kind of law. For any principle, 
applicable to the unit, must similarly affect 
any number composed of the same units. 
The elements in man being matter with its 
physical properties, and mind as an ever active 
intellectual force, humanity as a whole must 
come under the same laws as any of its 
component particles. 

All physical science is based on tracing the statics 
working of acting and counteracting forces. D n y d n 
In mechanics these forces are assumed to be 
two in number, namely : static and dynamic. 
The first manifests itself as the law of 

B 2 



amies. 



4 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

conservation of force (or energy) ; tlie second 
as the ever-varying force of moving activity. 
Morals Applying these technical terms to humanity, 
intellect, we find that morals correspond to the static, 
restraining, correcting force- — which is, in fact, 
the passive element in our nature. Moral laws 
are generally given in the negative form ; 
whilst intellect is undoubtedly the dynamic 
pushing, inquiring, inventing force — the 
active element, for all efforts in arts, sciences, 
and discoveries are of a positive nature. The 
working of these two forces may be either 
conflicting or harmonious, and on the greater 
or less degree of harmony in their action will 
depend the progressive development of single 
individuals, and that of whole communities, 
nations, and empires. We may thus reduce 
scientifically all the phenomena of history 
to a, plus or minus in the relative quantities of 
the two acting and reacting forces in hu- 
manity, the static or moral, and the dynamic 
or intellectual, constituting the principal 
elements of man's double nature. 

We may therefore confidently state that a 
scientific treatment of history is possible, and 
that this study is most important in order to 
train up men to private and public virtue, 
and to enable us not only to know ourselves 
in particular, but mankind in general, as the 
one great and mighty agent of History. 
The final History must, above all, make us acquainted 
Humanity with the final aim which men as self-conscious 
individuals, as well as whole states, driven 
onwards by the working of these two forces, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

try to attain. This final aim must be civili- ^ lllza " 
zation, a term often misused and generally 
misunderstood or distorted. To illustrate 
this assertion, I will quote some definitions 
of celebrated French and German writers. 

a Civilization," says the celebrated Gobi- m. Gobi- 
neau, the great historian of ancient Oriental neau * 
nations, " is a state of comparative stability, 
in which a large collection of individuals 
strive by peaceful means to satisfy their wants, 
and refine their intelligence and manners." 
All this is mere verbiage, found in numbers 
of books, in different languages. First, we 
may ask, What is comparative stability ? 
Is progress not part of civilization ? Is 
the word stability to be taken in the sense 
of religious, social, or political organization ? 
The next questions which naturally occur 
are, Why should civilization embrace only a 
large collection, and not all men striving 
to satisfy their wants? and, Why only by 
peaceful means ? We know from every page 
of History that wars were as instrumental in 
the progressive development of mankind as 
peace ; for war is the natural sequence of the 
conflicting, acting, and reacting forces in 
humanity. Wars are moral, social, and poli- 
tical thunderstorms clearing the sultry atmo- 
sphere of a certain period. Again, What 
are the wants of men ? The word wants is 
too vague, and has no settled scientific mean- 
ing. What are we to understand by a 
u refinement of intelligence," and what are 
" manners?" All these words have many 



6 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

relative meanings, but convey no absolute 
notion at all. What are considered good 
manners in one country, are looked down 
upon as the very worst manners in another. 
Definitions should be clear or they cannot 
serve as explanations. 

M.Guizot. M. Guizot, a great French statesman and 
historical writer of our century, is even less 
fortunate in his definition of civilization ; for 
he tells us, " Civilization is the fact of pro- 
gress and development." But he does not 
tell us what the fact of progress consists in. 
The definition, instead of giving us a clear 
notion of civilization, merely assumes it as 
an accomplished fact of progress and develop- 
ment, and we are left in the dark as to what 
the fact is, and what we ought to understand 
under the words progress and development. 

Wm - ™? William von Humboldt, brother of the 
great cosmologist, Alexander von Humboldt, 
is scarcely more successful in his explanation, 
for he says : " Civilization is the humaniza- 
tion of nations in their outward institutions, 
and the inward feelings upon which they 
depend." This definition, though recog- 
nizing outward and inward agencies, unhappily 
begins by defining the word " civilization " 
by another word u humanization " which re- 
quires a definition in its turn. Are human 
beings not humanized by being born as 
human beings ? Are they something else, 
and do they become " humanized" through 
a certain process, and is this process that of 
civilization ? And further ■ ' what are out- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 7 

ward institutions brought into harmony with 
inward feelings ?" u What are feelings ? " 
We are thus launched into physiological and 
psychological regions in which the study of 
History becomes extremely difficult. Such 
definitions make of History a mysterious 
book " with seven seals protected." The 
much vaunted spirit of the times, which 
ought to be reflected in every Historical com- 
position, is after all only the writer's own 
spirit. Truth thus becomes a mere subjective 
opinion, taking hues and tints from the pre- 
judices, ignorance, national conceits and 
antiquated customs which the historian 
brings to bear upon it ; whilst the objective 
treatment of the historical development of 
humanity is altogether neglected. 

In order to give a clear and scientific Man's 
definition of the word civilization, we must ment from 
try to trace the only possible development of pre-histor- 
mankind from pre-historic, down to our own our own ° 
times. We observe in nature that each times, 
creature is destined to develop to perfection Animals 
for its special purpose. All animals have ln ^ ature# 
all those instincts, tools and properties that 
fit them to live their peculiar life. The tele- * 

scopically constructed eyes of birds and flies, 
the fins of fishes, the sightlessness of moles, 
prove this. Whether we turn for negative or 
positive proofs, Nature furnishes them, and 
we come to the conclusion that each created 
thing has its destiny already innate in its 
very organization. The birds, in building 
their nests, are perfect architects so far as 



8 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOKY. 

their wants require them to be. Bees and 
ants work with indefatigable industry at 
their tasks ; creeping animals have no legs ; 
the kangaroos of Australia are provided with 
a pouch to hold their young, which are 
brought forth imperfectly formed. Every- 
where mode of construction and finish, or 
organization, are in perfect harmony with the 
general purpose of the animal. 
Man in This is not the case in man, as the only 

nature. |) e i D g on earth endowed with the greatest 
amount of intellect and self-conscious reason. 
In man those natural faculties, which are 
necessary for the development of his moral 
and intellectual forces, are not completely 
found in the individual, but only in the whole 
species. 
His pro- Man's progressive development consists in 
develop- the culture of his faculties to enable him to 
mfcnt> become master of his lower animal nature. 
This is accomplished through the combined 
action of the moial and intellectual forces, 
pervading the whole of humanity, and brings 
about that vast scientific progress, which 
could never have been attained by one 
* single individual. It required ages and 

ages to lead man to a higher state of moral 
and intellectual consciousness. Generations 
after generations were necessary to enable 
him to advance from his unconscious, wild, 
primitive childhood into our present scientific 
condition. 

Humanity may be said to have been 
standing on a ladder, climbing up from the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 9 

lowest steps to the higher ones, trying to Humanity 
reach the pure atmosphere of scientific truth primitive 
and moral perfection. On the lowest steps savage 

j. IT -u • 2. ±. f • •*_• condition. 

man must nave been m a state 01 primitive 
savage unconsciousness. He was without 
laws, without property, without fixed 
notions — even without a language. Man 
was groaning and suffering under the inex- 
orable despotism of Nature, for he was 
utterly unconscious of the forces that were 
hidden in him. In this state Nature was First 
his exclusive guide and teacher. Man's deve°iop - 
childish brain was not yet fit for the lasting men *- 
impressions of memory. He enjoyed and 
forgot. With every new object his previous 
feelings were changed. There was nothing 
settled, nothing fixed, either morally or 
intellectually. One moment he wept bitter 
tears and gave himself up to boundless de- 
spair, and the next he laughed and was 
excited by maddening joy. Man in this 
primitive state could not have known right 
or wrong, virtue or crime. This condition 
is described in nearly all the sacred books Paradise, 
of the different nations, as the " Paradisiacal 
state of innocence of humanity." But the 
two forces working in man soon drove him 
into another state. 

The dynamic force asserted itself during Second 

j. n • J -i , , . n • ° period of 

this second stage as an active power lor mis- develop- 
chief, murder, defence, and revenge, and ment - 
man's moral force manifested itself in coward- 
ly fear of the stronger and mightier. Man 
related to the animals around him, equal to 



10 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

them in the powers of his outward senses, 
their superior in his faculty of mimicking, 
observed everything with timid curiosity. 
He learnt from animals to provide himself 
with food, to construct his abode, to cheat 
his enemy, and to dissimulate. He imitated 
their very gambols, and acquired from them 
his first savage dances. No historian is 
capable of measuring the time during which 
the different nations were in this half- animal, 
half-dreamy, unconscious state, without me- 
mory, without fixed Ian guage. We might well 
compare man in these phases to a baby 
lying on the motherly breast of nature 
imbibing life and strength. The germ of 
development was in him. 
Third The intellectual power began to work, man 

period of g TQW into a boy who strengthened his me- 
ment.° P mory, and was able to find his way over 
rocky mountains, through dashing streams, 
and unexplored woods ; he made himself 
weapons to attack an enemy and to defend 
himself. Language became more fixed. The 
Elders sang songs, often full of intuitive 
wisdom, because the moral force was brought 
into activity. The strong ruled— the weak 
obeyed. Woman was no more than a useful 
slave. The dynamic or intellectual force was 
concentrated on the rude ebullition of brute 
strength . The semi-savage consid ered courage 
in danger, perseverance in adversity, con- 
tempt of death, the highest virtues, and the 
very basis of his whole moral existence. He 
thoughtlessly sacrificed his life to fleeting 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 11 

impulses. He decorated his hut with the 
skulls of his murdered enemies. By degrees 
the first products of an artistic spirit were 
visible. The women began to adorn them- 
selves with shells, stones, or the perforated 
teeth of animals ; and the men tattooed them- 
selves, to appear more terrible : for the most 
terrible looking was the most beautiful in the 
eyes of the gentler sex. Humanity began 
to establish different castes. The patriarchs 
taught, the heroes ruled, and the masses began 
to protect teachers and rulers. 

The more we study the relics of the 
different savage nations, the more we become 
convinced that these were the first three 
primitive phases of the social condition of 
man all over the globe. Some never reached 
a higher state, and are mere survivals of these 
periods. 

In observing the strange phenomena ol 
nature, man is anxious to explain them, and 
as he sees that wherever something is done, 
there is a personal agent at hand, he begins 
to people heaven and earth with numerous 
gods and goddesses. This period is influ- 
enced by the untutored efforts of man's 
intellectual force, impressed by the marvel- 
lous and incomprehensible. He thinks him- 
self surrounded by thundering and lightning 
powers. Invisible benevolent or hostile 
forces give him light and rain, flowers and 
fruits, tame and useful animals ; invisible 
forces rage in the storm, extinguish the 
bright light of heaven, send out ferocious 



12 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

animals, destroy his harvest, or kill those 
that are dearest to him. With the aid of the 
moral and intellectual forces working in him, 
man gives explanations to these phenomena, 
and we see the different nations of the earth 
work out their gorgeous mythological and 
religious systems. From the incomprehen- 
sible phenomena man turns by degrees with 
energy to secure for himself practically a 
higher, better organized, social condition. 
His powers of observation and reasoning 
have grown stronger ; he tries to control the 
outbursts of his wild impulses. He becomes 
more and more conscious of his moral and 
intellectual powers. He leaves the merely 
natural condition of his nomadic, pastoral, 
or primitive agricultural state, and settles 
down in villages and towns, but he still loses 
himself with erring and faltering steps in a 
maze of deceptions. Now he is swayed by 
mere morals, and then again by the most 
daring flights of his intellectual force, in the 
shape of an unbridled imagination. 
Thefourth Man is on the point of losing his half- 
P^ ri ° d of savage nature and reaching the fourth stage 
ment. of development. Notions of a purer and 
higher kind of morals occupy his mind and 
fill it with yearnings for virtue and honesty ; 
further efforts in art, and a better organization 
of the political state of society are faintly 
attempted. Imagination and wild animal 
propensities still obscure the more active forms 
of morals and intellect, which latter is not 
yet freed; whilst man's morals are still based 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 13 

on arbitrary assumptions, and an utter igno- 
rance of his real nature. Man knows no 
measure in love and hatred ; he is fond of 
adventure, rushes from extreme to extreme, 
and has no moderation. The gigantic 
and inexplicable excite his admiration, and 
keep his easily awakened credulity in the 
fetters of superstition. Vulgarity and ten- 
derness, freedom and slavery, luxury and 
abnegation, cruelty and generosity are the 
principal eifects of the two acting and re- 
acting forces in man. The state is composed 
of privileged classes and slaves. The ruling 
power is a merciless despot, surrounded by 
scheming intolerant favourites, who decree 
laws in his name, and persecute everyone who 
does not submit to their dictates. A hereditary 
nobility in their assumed position imitate 
the actions of the despot and his attendants. 
The working forces are not yet aroused in 
the masses of the people, they are latent, and 
can only destroy if they burst into activity. 
During this period of man's development he 
indulges in pompous festivities in times of 
peace, and in times of war eagerly seeks 
adventures, and often performs titanic deeds. 

A fifth development of the forces working The fifth 
in humanity must have followed. The S^jJJJi °. f 
dominion of superstition grew weaker and ment. 
weaker through the freed force of intellect. 
The childish delight in grotesque splendour 
and vulgar, often caricaturistic, pomp had 
vanished. Myths began to be doubted, and 
man became more and more conscious of his 



14 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

real nature, and a juster balance of the 
mighty forces working in him was found ; he 
did not waste them on useless efforts, but 
devoted his intellectual power to arts and 
sciences. As day follows night, so man 
emerged from the dark barbarian fourth 
period into the most glorious phase of 
the ancient Greek classical age, with its 
unsurpassed lofty thoughts in philosophy, its 
attempts to unravel truth by means of 
scientific researches, to ennoble taste through 
a correct appreciation of beauty, and to dis- 
perse the baneful influence of mere sagas and 
myths. Harmony was thus brought into 
the completing forces pervading humanity. 
Morals were to be placed above mere formulae, 
and intellect was to be freed from the heavy 
clouds of superstition. A golden time, with 
wondrous intellectual pleasures, began to pour 
light over the world, when in Greece, for a 
short period, morals and intellect acted freely 
together, perfectly well balanced, and pro- 
duced that bright and dazzling phenomenon 
in History which still survives as the classic 
period. The knowledge of this period is 
indispensable to a cultivated mind, for it 
serves History and historians, as the very 
starting point from which to establish in 
individuals, as well as in whole nations, the 
firmest basis of true civilization. 
The sixth Man learned to turn his moral and intel- 
deveiop- lectual forces from the boundless excitement 
ment. f imaginary aspirations, to more practical 
purposes. In consequence of the greater 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 15 

or less development of the forces, mankind 
became divided into separate nations, reli- 
gious sects, learned professions, philosophical 
schools, different classes of society ; it broke 
with the past, and devoted itself during the 
sixth period to inventions and discoveries, 
after a long night of bigotry and superstition, 
in which the struggle between morals and 
intellect consisted in an attempt to deaden 
intellect and reason, by making them subser- 
vient to blind faith. Man's better nature con- 
quered. Industry and commerce, carrying 
the products of one country to another, and 
promoting simultaneously a freer exchange 
of ideas, helped him to accomplish this 
glorious victory. 

Scientific men ventured into the broad 
daylight of publicity under the protection of 
wise governments, who perceived often un- 
consciously the necessity of allowing a free 
play to the dynamic (intellectual) power. 
Learned men were no longer afraid of being 
looked down upon as necromancers, wizards, 
alchemists, or the standard-bearers of the 
evil spirit of inquiry and scepticism. There 
are stril some intolerant, deluded bigots who 
abuse the power of intellect to check its 
progress, but they thunder in vain. Hu- 
manity sees itself very high on the ladder of 
progress — but not yet altogether on the top. 

The current of the two forces took a 
one-sided direction, for they were suddenly 
concentrated on mere trade and commerce, 
and a keen calculation of exclusively 



16 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Ac don material interests. Profit surpassed by far 
and re- q\\ claims of heart and intellect. Imagi- 

action in , . n . . i , i . 

the present nation was lettered, arts and sciences 
phases of stepped into the background. Huge towns 
opmentof were constructed, smooth commercial roads 
humanity, abounded, but narrow-minded and pedantic 
universities hindered the flights of sciences 
in their endeavours to find out truth. 
Standing armies began to absorb the hard 
earnings of the working, labouring, trading, 
and commercial classes. Priestly jealousies, 
controversial quarrels, silenced the voice of 
common sense and reason, and the masses 
were left without any education. The acting 
and reacting forces again produced con- 
flicting interests, the past was at strife with 
the present — rebellions, revolutions, and wars 
interrupted peaceful progress, but only to 
bring about a better adjustment of the dis- 
turbed forces working in humanity. Contra- 
dictions led to contradictions; ancient sys- 
tems were superseded by new ones ; towards 
the end of the last century all was apparently 
moral and intellectual chaos, and yet the 
forces at work in us went far to promote the 
interests of real civilization. 

We have described humanity from the 
time when man, awakened to consciousness, 
entered the bonds of society, endeavour- 
ing continuously to find an adjustment be- 
tween the two inherent forces, morals and 
intellect, in which adjustment the ultimate 
aim of mankind — civilization — must consist. 
We are now enabled to give a clear 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 17 

definition of civilization from a strictly 
scientific point of view, having traced its 
phases in the different periods of the develop- 
ment of man. Civilization can only be : 

The attainment of a perfect balance betiveen the w ^at 
two acting and reacting, the static and dynamic, Son really 
or the moral and intellectual forces in humanity. is - 

The whole study of History from a higher 
general and scientific point of view resolves To what 
itself into a correct tracing of the disturb- of History 
ances in the two forces. All the phenomena m,l8 J 
in the flowing and ebbing ocean of the itself. 
past, present and future ; all religious, social, 
political, artistic and scientific events may be 
referred philosophically to a conflict of morals 
with intellect or of intellect with morals. 

If a nation strives to foster only morals Results 
without intellect, it is as surely doomed, as if °f d *a ne " 
it cultivates intellect without the counteract- treatment 
ing and balancing power of morals. The fj}^ two 
legislation and judicature, political commo- working 
tions and social reforms are nothing but a humanity, 
more or less conscious attempt to balance 
these forces in mankind. Wars, revolutions, 
the downfall of empires, changes in dynasties, 
animosities in religious or scientific contro- 
versies, are but endeavours to readjust and 
discover the equipoise between the static and 
dynamic forces, pervading not only the 
material universe, but also intellectual, self- 
conscious humanity. 

It must fill us witk astonishment that History 
whilst already Aristotle, the greatest Greek tized. ma " 
philosopher, more than 2,000 years ago, 

c 



18 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

attempted to systematize the study of poetry 
and even art, in tracing laws in the products 
of playful imagination, no one should have en- 
deavoured to systematize the study of History 
on a firm scientific basis. We are scarcely 
able to explain the fact that so little, or rather 
nothing, should have been said of the utility 
and importance of History, the different 
methods of writing it, the duties which the 
historian has to perform, and the difficulties 
which he has to encounter. It may be that 
historians themselves have never yet tried to 
master the subject from a higher scientific 
point of view. 
Germans, The Germans, French, and Italians, through 
fndita- Vossius, Bodinus, and Vico, endeavoured to lay 
liansonthe down certain rules for the composition of his- 
waiting ° torical works, but these generally affect only 
History, the method or the style, without giving general 
laws for the scientific treatment of History. 
Pope, the English essayist, tells us that "The 
proper study of mankind is man." Nothing 
can be more fascinating than the study of man 
in his different historical evolutions. To look 
upon humanity as one great, growing, evolv- 
ing, progressively-developing whole, ought to 
interest us no less than the study of the 
Universe; which, however, only became a 
scientific possibility from the moment when 
Newton assigned, through his law of gravi- 
tation, a cause for the different phenomenal 
effects in nature. 

How are we to become acquainted with 
our own individual nature, if we know nothing 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 19 

of the nature of our fellow-creatures and our 
mutual relations to them ? How can we 
hope to direct the destinies of whole nations, 
if we are ignorant of the means that were 
used in other countries, by other peoples, 
thousands of years ago? If History, accord- 
ing to Dionysius of Halicarnassus (a his- Jf l °Haii. us 
torian, 30 B.C., who wrote an Archaeology carnassus 
in 20 books, of which we possess only 11), onhist01 ^ 
"is philosophy teaching by examples/' no- 
thing can be more important than the study 
of this philosophy, as it must necessarily 
teach us how to act under certain circum- 
stances. For the same cause must invariably 
produce the same effect ; causes that had the 
progress, happiness, and wealth of one state 
for their result, must have the same effect if 
practically applied to our own nation, always 
taking counteracting influences into due 
consideration. In studying man in his The one . 
historical development, we everywhere find nessin 
that he had his nomadic childhood, his m e n p a o?°" 
pastoral boyhood, his agricultural youth, and history, 
his commercial and warlike manhood, during 
which he strove to attain political freedom, 
riches, happiness, and the greatest possible 
amount of knowledge. 

In History, as throughout nature, there is 
a certain oneness, engendered by the law of 
causation, to which the forces working in 
humanity are as subject as any other force, 
and yet there is through the whole of nature 
an eternal change and life — an expanding 
life— that is never to-day what it was yester- 

c 2 



20 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

dav, that in spite of thousands of survivals in 
savage prejudices and inherited false notions, 
continually extends, drawing larger numbers 
into the vortex of a self-conscious life of 
higher mental and moral culture. 
First duty The first duty of a historian should be 
historian to distinguish the different forms of History. 
Historiography ought to precede any attempt 
to write History. Not writers only, but 
readers also, ought to be acquainted with it ; 
for it is not less difficult to read History with 
profit, than to compose a historical work. 
Divisions History, according to the special materials 
of history, treated of, may be : — 

(«.) Keii- [a.) Religious ; describing the different 
§10US • phases through which one or several nations 
passed, until they adopted a certain settled 
- creed. Such histories may be dry records 
of the various religious systems, registering 
the tenets and ceremonies of different sects ; 
they may be comparative, in drawing 
analogies between the religious professions 
of different nations; or philosophical, in en- 
deavouring to find out not only analogies, 
but also the causes that produced the mani- 
fold forms of worship at different periods, 
under the influence of the impressions of 
nature, and the social conditions under which 
the founders and followers of such religions 
lived. 
rnLite- (^0 Literary; tracing the gradual intel- 
rary. lectual progress or decay in the writings of 
nations. Such compositions may be merely 
catalogues of books, arranged chronologically, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 21 

or we may group the different literary pro- 
ducts under the headings of Poetry, Drama, 
Science, History, Theology, and Politics, il- 
lustrating the growth of the various branches 
of imaginative or scientific works, and treat- 
ing them critically and philosophically. 

(c.) Social ; giving an account of the (c) Social 
various customs, manners, and prejudices of 
one or several nations ; the prevailing notions 
pervading society at certain periods. This 
may be done by collecting dry facts or by 
tracing the moral and intellectual status that 
produced these interesting and varying phe- 
nomena. 

(d.) Political and legal ; as a record of the (^)Poiiti. 
forms of government, the administration of ™ ' ^ 
justice, the laws under which people lived, 
the rights of property, the relations into 
which one nation was brought with another, 
and the changes which such relations had to 
undergo. The treatment of such historical 
works may be either exclusively chronologi- 
cal, giving the mere dates of the enactments, 
and their contents ; or philosophical, tracing 
the causes and effects that produced the dif- 
ferent changes, according to the more or less 
developed moral and intellectual condition of 
the people under certain forms of government, 
and at certain periods of their national de- 
velopment. 

(e.) Commercial; describing the natural («•) 9 om " 
and industrial products of a country; the 1 
means of locomotion available for the forward- 
ing of such products ; the countries that will 



22 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

require them, and their market value. Again, 
such histories may be merely tables of im- 
ports and exports ; or they may be scientifi- 
cally treated, and state the causes and effects / 
of the workings of demand and supply at 
various periods ; and this treatment can only 
be successful, if based on generalizations, 
founded on details furnished by correct tabu- 
lar statements. 
(/.) Mm- (/) Military ; being a record of the origin 
tary. £ y l UI1 teer and standing armies and their 
organization, amongst Persians, Greeks, Ro- 
mans, the mediaeval period, and our own 
times ; of infantry, cavalry, and artillery ; 
of the different weapons and their uses ; the 
invention of gunpowder and fire-arms ; the 
modes of attack and defence, of fortification, 
strategy, &c, and of the different wars. 
These histories may be either simply chrono- 
logical, or philosophical, investigating the 
causes that produced periodical bloodshed all 
over the world, and the effects of such con- 
flicts on the progress of mankind, and the 
welfare of whole nations and empires. 
iff) Philo- (y # ) Philosophical; analysing the slow and 
gradual development of man's intellectual 
faculties, exercising an all-important influence 
on our very mode of thinking. The history 
of philosophy may be a vast compendium of 
mere systems or schools, and their contents 
and teachings according to nations or periods. 
On the other hand, the history of philosophy 
may be a connected whole, comparing the 
philosophical efforts of different nations, 



sophical. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 23 

showing the working of intellect under cer- 
tain conditions ; the errors, systems, modes 
of reasoning, discoveries and progress made, 
and in general the interdependence between 
outward impressions, inward sensations, con- 
sciousness, and ideas thus formed, as the means 
of explaining all natural, moral, and intellec- 
tual phenomena. 

(h.) Special; which may be treated either W Special 
as a mere record of dry dates and facts, or 
scientifically, describing the historical phe- 
nomena as effects of certain causes. Such 
histories may be a collection of genealogies, 
memoirs, and biographies, arranged arbitrari- 
ly, recording without any critical spirit details 
and incidents, anecdotes, myths, and fables. 
Unhappily these branches of History, in 
the shape of chronicles, have been principally 
cultivated by Oriental and insular nations. 
Every family of some little importance wished 
to be treated as a special factor in the great 
national drama. Chronicles form the back- chronicles 
bone of History; but chroniclers must not and chro- 
fancy themselves historians. A gardener is mc ers ' 
not always a botanist ; nor a miner a geolo- 
gist; a cook a chemist; a builder an architect; 
or an accountant a mathematician ; and a 
collector of facts or a registrar of births and 
deaths is certainly not a historian. Mistaken 
views of the nature of a historian's work 
have materially checked the development of 
the scientific study of History. 

The chroniclers of old were guilty of Dangers of 
another error, which impaired the real use- c romc es * 



24 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOKY. 

fulness of their works. Without any know- 
ledge of physical sciences, they recorded 
natural phenomena together with historical 
facts. It happened that as the historical facts 
were found to be correct, the readers concluded, 
that the geological, astronomical, and cosmo- 
logical assertions must also be true. False- 
hoods were thus accepted as facts through a 
mistaken belief in the accuracy of the chro- 
nologist. A great amount of negative truth 
was brought into circulation, especially in 
so-called sacred histories. When errors have 
been circulated for thousands of years, and 
are looked upon as positive truths, it is ex- 
tremely difficult to destroy the effect such 
books produce ; the falsehoods contained in 
them become crystallized ideas, the solution 
of which is no easy task. 
The duty Chroniclers, strictly speaking, should note 

or good -i -u j i +u 

chroni- occurrences day by day, year by year with 
ciers. unbiassed accuracy ; they need neither trouble 
themselves about style nor the logical connec- 
tion of the facts they note down. They 
must consider themselves as the collectors of 
the raw-material for the construction of a 
historical edifice. They have to furnish us 
with the bricks and stones, the mortar and 
wood, and nothing beyond. Cicero, the 
Roman orator and philosopher, laid down the 
rule that annals should furnish us with "a 
plain account without endeavouring to trace 
causes." To record facts is the real duty of 
chroniclers ; they have not to deal with the 
probable motives of persons, they must 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 25 

register deeds and not intentions. As 
chroniclers belong to the first stage in the 
development of historiography, they take no 
notice of diplomatic intrigues, they assume 
a providential interference in the different 
phenomena of History, or even chance, rather 
than man's conscious or unconscious moral 
and intellectual powers. Chroniclers, accord- 
ing to the very nature of their work, should 
be entirely objective. 

According* to Father Amiot, the Chinese The 
undoubtedly possess historical records of of ™™ Q eh 
this description, preferable to those of all Chinese, 
other Oriental nations, Q i because they are 
the most free from fables, the most ancient, 
the most generally received, the most abun- 
dant in facts. They are worthy of all 
confidence, for they have epochs fixed by 
astronomical observations and every other 
means of insuring accuracy." But these 
records are without any higher aim ; com- 
binations of incidents are never attempted ; 
we find in them merely dry facts, but no 
suggestions even, at a cause that must have 
produced phenomena, according to some 
hypothetically assumed law. As chronicles, 
such records are excellent, but they are not 
histories. Real chroniclers are generally 
lost altogether in their special facts ; the 
effect of writing and reading chronicles 
is therefore extremely pernicious. The 
overwhelming material deadens the reason- 
ing faculty, both in the writers and in 
their readers. Our memory is too heavily 



26 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

taxed to the detriment of our intellect and 
reason. 

Finally, History may be : — 
(t.) Gene- f{\ General or Universal; under this head - 

ral or uni- x ' . . -, . -, -. . 

TersaiHis- mg we must not understand a compendium 
tor y- of the chronicles of all the different nations, 
with all the facts and dates, the names, 
births, ages, and deaths of all the kings and 
princes that ever ruled over any of the 
thousand different nations. General History, 
as the last and highest development, the 
very essence of the different special histories, 
has above all to take an exclusively philo- 
sophical standpoint. 
Necessary A general historian should be an accom- 
Sonsina pushed scholar; he should be capable of 
general grasping the totality of mankind with all 
is onan. ^ g details ; and, through a highly cultivated 
intellect, group analogous facts, so as to give 
us an insight into the various workings of the 
forces in man, as the only causes of which 
historical phenomena are the effects. The 
general historian must be conversant, so far 
as his difficult task requires it, with all the 
secondary sciences that help him in the 
composition of history. His logical powers 
must be practised in acute critical discern- 
ment. He must be able to distinguish 
between possible and probable facts, discard 
all miracles, as in their very nature contrary 
to law, and he must judge phenomena on 
their own merits. It will be his duty to sift 
the different sources of history, unwritten 
or written ; for monuments and coins, oral 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 27 

traditions, myths and fables preserved 
amongst different nations, may often prove 
more reliable documents than written his- 
tories. To these he must add inscriptions 
in clay, on wood, stone, or bronze. In the 
use of authorities he must be thoroughly The use of 
acquainted with the spirit of the times, the ties. 
amount of learning and the opportunities 
for observation that an author had, and per- 
fectly know the national, social, political, or 
religious standpoint from which the writer 
looked upon given facts. Such authors alone The only 
are trustworthy, who knew the truth and dared ^thy 
to tell it. But how rare are such historians ! authors. 
Men are unconsciously and involuntarily 
influenced by their very family relations ; the 
nation to which they belong ; the education 
which they have received ; the books they have 
read ; the people they have associated with, 
and the offices they have held. A priest will see 
all facts in an entirely different light, because 
he considers them from a point of view quite 
other than that of a soldier, a merchant, or 
a philosopher. Fanatical patriots will be less 
capable of giving an unbiassed account of the 
growth and development of their nation than 
strangers, if these strangers have divested 
themselves of their own special national no- 
tions. The historian has further to take into 
consideration the character, mode of thinking, 
and the very age of the author, whom he 
wishes to use as an authority. In young 
writers imagination generally prevails, while 
in old ones there is often a critical spirit of dis- 



28 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

satisfaction. If the writer be melancholy, he is 
sure to take a desponding and gloomy view 
of every incident ; if sanguine, he will con- 
template the most terrible occurrences with 
bright cheerfulness. Facts and men thus 
described, appear in the subjective tints of the 
author ; they are less reliable in the eyes of a 
true historian, who must know how to divest 
them of this colouring. Even where the his- 
torian has to deal with eye-witnesses, he must 
How to n °t fail to be most cautious ; he must draw his 
compose pictures wi th strict impartiality and place them 

and write 1 1 -, , n ,. f- i • • i i (* 

History, clearly betore his readers, never losing sight oi 
his duty to show how the special facts were mere 
effects of some general causes. The pictures 
the historian draws must be correct in outline 
and vivid in colouring, and must neither lose 
in value nor fidelity by age. The works of 
mere chroniclers may fade and cease to 
interest the masses; but the products of a 
genuine historian grow more and more 
valuable in time. For he must not over- 
load his work with merely accidental and 
special facts; he must compose the history 
of humanity on such broad and philo- 
sophical principles that in all the details, 
not only of past times, but also in those of 
the present the reader may be able to see 
firm and unalterable laws. It is true that 
detailed histories become old-fashioned, like 
certain scientific books, because we acquire 
day by day new vistas. History, written 
from a shifting standpoint, is not really 
History at all, and is only so treated in 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 29 

countries in which the masses have been left 
without any superior historical education ; 
where every individual writer starts with 
paradoxical notions of his own in arranging 
historical facts, turning History into a com- 
pilation of subjective opinions, without any 
lasting scientific value. The social, political, 
and religious organisms are subject to con- 
stant changes, the general historian will have 
to trace the causes of these variations, and 
this in itself must give a firm and scientific 
basis to his work. " For the History of 
mankind is a continuation of the natural 
History of the Universe, and must have dis- 
coverable laws," says Dr. Maudsley, who J)r - 

r ,1 i* • i . • 1 i • i*V» Maudsley 

further anticipates m a clear and scientific n the 
spirit, "that it may be possible in time to possibility 
come from observation of the course of the covering 
past years of human development to discover ^ w ® in 
the laws of future development." Apparently 
there can be nothing more capricious, un- 
certain, and changeable than meteorological 
phenomena; and yet we study them, and 
try to forecast the probable changes in the 
weather. Is man, in spite of all his moral and 
intellectual faculties, more changeable than 
clouds and winds, rain, hail, and storms? Man 
in History is not an individually free agent. 
We have to learn above all to renounce 
the three false principles on which a solution f ^f iree 
of historical phenomena has-been attempted, principles 

1 pUnnp on which a 

1. \jlldULV. ^ solution of 

2. Predestination. History 

3. Free Will. Tuempted 



30 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Man part 
of a whole. 



(o.) The 
rule of 
Chance. 



Any one of these three bases must render 
the scientific composition of history im- 
possible. 

Man is created to be pre-eminently a social 
being ; he must renounce part of his indivi- 
duality to become a fraction of a great whole, 
which had and has its past, its present, and 
which must, as a consequence of these, have 
a future development. An aggregation of 
individuals forms a people; homogeneous 
political and social organizations of peoples 
give us States. States, like individuals, are 
the outgrowths of material and intellectual 
elements, brought into mutual relations of 
action and reaction. The formation of such 
States, their development, growth, decline, 
and fall are so many successive phenomena 
in time and space, due to the action of the 
two forces working in man. 

(«.) The Kule of Chance is the most popular 
belief with historians; but popular prejudices 
cannot serve as the basis of a scientific treat- 
ment of any subject. Eecently we have tried 
to bring even chance under law, in an endea- 
vour to show that births, sickness, and deaths, 
and also marriages, crimes, and suicides 
(though the latter occurrences all depend on 
the individual will), are subject to law — at least 
to the law of probability, which we have ex- 
pressed in mathematical formulae. Assuming 
chance in the historical development of man, 
we should discard all order and law, all con- 
nection between cause and effect, between 
antecedent and consequent in a certain class of 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 31 

phenomena ; though law, order, and sequence 
are found in the smallest chemical substance. 
" Nitrogen, which we daily breathe in atmos- 
pheric air, is, in an uncombined state, fatal to 
animal life. Every substance in nature has its 
sjDecific elements, properties, and relations, 
which are indestructible as the object or sub- 
stance itself." All, then, is not confusion and 
chance. " Chance is but the confession of 
ignorance and the faith of fools." Were we 
to assume chance in history, we should place 
man on a lower scale than inorganic matter. 
Chance often assumes the form of self- 
interest and political expediency, and is 
made under these high-sounding terms, the 
rule of life, of politics, and of history. If 
the maxims : " quod semper " (what is ever), 
" quod ubique" (what is everywhere), and 
" quod ab omnibus" (what everyone believes), 
are at any time to be accepted as moral 
proofs of doctrine, they may claim to be so 
in the case of chance; for the believer 
in it has the right to assert, that there 
is no principle whose potency is more 
generally felt and acknowledged. "It is re- 
cognized alike in all ages and in all climes ; 
by the peasant in his cottage, and by the king 
on his throne. It is the mainspring of in- 
dustry, of trade, of party politics, of interna- 
tional diplomacy. It is above all very per- 
ceptible within the sacred precincts of the 
Church, under the name of predestination 
or providence, and continually made use of 
by preachers and teachers." But this radi- 



32 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



()8 ) Pre- 

destina- 
tion or 
provi- 
dence. 



(y.) Free- 
Will. 



cal belief in chance, predestination, or provi- 
dence is virtual unbelief in universal order — 
producing nothing but self-deception and 
hypocrisy ; it is an easy method to explain 
phenomena without troubling ourselves to 
trace order and law in physical as well as 
in all moral and intellectual phenomena. 
Chance can never be the basis of a scientific 
treatment of history. 

(/3.) Predestination or providence, strictly 
taken, are essentially only other names for 
chance. If we assume a higher independent 
force, not within, but without or above us, which 
directly regulates the destinies of individuals 
and nations, both individuals and nations 
are released from all moral responsibility, 
and can never become masters of their fate ; 
their actions — having been predisposed, pre- 
arranged, providentially predestined — can- 
not come under the influence of order and 
law. But every occurrence in history con- 
tradicts this assumption. Some idealistic 
philosophers in the endeavour to reconcile our 
apparently independent power to come or to 
go, to eat or to drink, to act or not to act, 
with the notion of predestination and pro- 
vidence, have invented the theory of: — 

(y ) Free- Will ; but free-will of the indivi- 
dual as against whom ? and by what means 
is he to show that free-will? — against the 
masses, or against a supreme ruling will? 
This theory ojDposes impotence to omni- 
potence, weakness to power, nothing to some- 
thing — an individual, relative, and extremely 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOKY. 33 

limited will to a universal, all-powerful, ab- 
solute will. The relative free will exists in 
our inherent dynamic or intellectual power, 
regulated by the static or moral force ; and, 
in order to obtain a scientific basis for history, 
we have to reduce the free-will hypothesis to 
the theory of a conscious, though often con- 
flicting, working of the two forces in man. 

So soon as the historian has found his firm 
basis in law, he will be able to treat his sub- 
ject systematically; never contented exclu- 
sively to record dry facts, but careful to point 
out the place, the time, and the circumstances Place, 
under which certain facts have happened, S^um 
using his reasoning faculty with unbiassed stances. 
freedom to discern primary or secondary, Primary 
direct or indirect causes. As little as we can °Jj d direct 
escape physical laws, can we evade the action secondary 
of moral laws. We eat too much, and we ^i irect 
have to suffer for it. We do wrong, and we 
have to bear the penal consequences. We do 
not punish or outlaw ourselves, nor do we wil- 
lingly disturb our powers of digestion, when 
we overload our stomachs. " The physical Physical 
law is universal, all-pervading, all-powerful, ^ ws mora 
and so are our moral and intellectual laws." 
Because individuals as well as whole nations 
seem to have violated, with impunity, the 
general moral laws of justice, truth, and 
love, it does not follow that these laws 
did not exist. The historian will easily 
convince himself and his readers, that in 
all such cases the effects of any violation of 
moral and intellectual laws can be traced in the 

D 



34 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

character, organization, and ultimate destiny 
of the offending nation. Whenever states 
violate the law of truth, veracity will be 
unknown to the single members of such a 
people, and they will have to suffer for it one 
time or another. The transgression of any 
moral or intellectual law must produce direct 
or indirect consequences to all individuals 
or nations. 
Hypothe- A historian must never argue hypothetic 

ments are" m %? or waste his time and intellectual 
not ad- energy in " ifs. " If Louis XVI. of France 

inSistory nac ^ n °t wished to eat soup at St. Men- 
hould, he would not have been recognized, 
taken prisoner, and the French Revolu- 
tion would have assumed a totally different 
form; or if Bonaparte, when returned from 
Egypt, had been captured by the English, 
history would have been deprived of one of 
its most dazzling imperial chapters. The 
historian has to give facts as they occurred, 
and to prove that they could not have hap- 
pened differently than they did in reality ; 
and, further, that if the same causes could 
possibly be repeated, the same effects would 
take place, 
what a Every historical work ought to be a 

historical finished and in itself complete whole ; it must 
work show harmony of aim and purpose, and trace 
Le. a strict connection between incidents, their 

primary causes, and final effects. History must 
serve us as a reliable guide for our social and 
political life, since scarcely an event, a situa- 
tion, or a motive of action exists, some proto- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 35 

type of which, with its necessary sequences, 
we may not find in history. To live, is to 
be conscious of ourselves and our relations to 
our fellow-men ; and no history can be per- 
fect unless it analyses the peculiarities of a 
certain nation at a certain period, and brings 
such special phenomena into relation with 
the invariable laws of the guiding forces per- 
vading the whole of humanity. 

Having said so much, in general, we may 
now consider some further details necessary 
to the historian in particular. 

We have stated above that a historian ought A hist o ria11 
to be a good logician. " Logic," according good 
to John Stuart Mill, " comprises the science lo s lclan - 
of reasoning, as well as the art founded on 
that science." The historian will have con- 
tinually to practise this artistic science in 
grouping his facts and in drawing his strictly 
logical conclusions from them. The choice 
of the material and its arrangement will tax 
his faculties as a descriptive artist, whilst the 
general application of the law of causation to 
all the details, will engage his philosophical 
powers. 

The historian must place himself in the a historian 
position of a supreme judge ; his tribunal is gu P * eme 
the world, before which the whole of humanity judge. 
is arraigned, and he has to pronounce judg- 
ment according to the code of the unchanging 
laws of man's moral and intellectual nature. 
He must trace the disturbing influences that 
constitute the very elements of historical 
phenomena with impartiality ; he must raise 

D 2 



36 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

stands himself above any national or party feeling, 

nations and an< ^ 1°°^ u P on a ^ nations and parties as the 
parties completing units of one grand whole, the 
interests of which he has to promote in point- 
ing out the working of law in its general 
operations, applicable to all specialities, and 
admitting no exceptions. 
His calling There cannot possibly be a higher calling 
being the than ^h a t f a historian. He must be swayed 

highest , , £ , . ,■/ 

possible, by a universal love tor humanity, and an 
unbounded reverence for truth. He must be 
courageous in his deductions to whatever 
they may lead ; no secondary considerations 
should hinder him from telling the truth — 
free thought and independence of mind must 
be his essential characteristics. 
Auxiliary The complication of human affairs is such 
required. that to enable us to do one thing "it is requi- 
site to know the nature and property of many 
things," and this apophthegm may be applied 
to point out the vast range of knowledge 
required in the historian. 

I. — Chronology and Geography. 

fcie^eTof Everything that happens must happen in 
History, time and space. Time with reference to 
logyand History is chronology. Space with reference 
Geography to the historical facts requires the knowledge 
of our earth. Chronology is full of difficul- 
ties. Years, months, weeks, and even days 
have been variously calculated at different 
periods by different nations, and consti- 
tute one of the most unsettled parts of 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 37 

History. Indians, Egyptians, Chaldeans, 
Hebrews, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, and 
Christians had, and have different eras, cycles, 
and periods. In Europe we have still the 
Julian, Gregorian, Hebrew, and Mahometan 
calculations. Chronology must be treated 
in a broad spirit, and with that rare honesty 
which does not shrink from acknowledging 
our ignorance where conflicts exist. In all 
cases of doubtful chronology the historian 
will do well to record such doubts, and what 
he cannot verify by synchronism of facts, 
should be regarded with suspicion. Chro- 
nology becomes the more difficult, the further 
we go back in our historical studies, and here 
the generalization of events will best serve 
us, without troubling ourselves or our readers 
much with utterly useless cycles, epicycles, 
epochs, or periods. The most objectionable 
treatment of chronology is that which 
endeavours to force events into the narrow 
compass of some Jewish or Christian writers, 
who, without any knowledge of real facts, 
and the monuments of ancient nations, 
sought io falsify dates to prove their own 
assertions correct. Wherever dates can be 
verified, they should be given, for they 
serve to demonstrate slow and gradual evolu- 
tion, either on the path of progression or 
retrogression. 

The study of geography, namely, of the 
particular space in which a people is settled 
on earth, will be indispensable to a his- 
torian. All modern historians admit the 



38 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

immense influence which the general aspect 
of nature must have on the formation of the 
social organization, the religious opinions, 
and the whole character of individuals and 
nations. Climate, food, and soil will be the 
first material or physical particles which 
impress our senses, and constitute a very 
important component element in our mental 
condition. Islands form different characters 
than continents. Mountains foster other 
thoughts than valleys or plains. A very cold 
climate, like a very hot one, acts detriment- 
ally on our mental faculties ; whilst a mode- 
rate temperature will further the development 
of all our intellectual capacities. The Indians 
have imbibed their wild fantastic supersti- 
tions from their gorgeous mountains and 
rivers, their luxuriant flora, and their terri- 
fying fauna. The Egyptians may trace all 
their mystic symbolism to the mysterious 
actions of the river ISTile. In the Greeks and 
Romans we may trace the first causes of 
their different developments in the very 
situation of their different countries. Eng- 
land and Japan had, to a certain degree, an 
analagous development, whilst continental 
Russia and Germany resemble China in their 
political organization. The sea surrounding 
the world we live in, will excite us to daring 
enterprize — to a higher and quicker culture 
of our bodily and mental faculties. The very 
number of miles of coast will exercise an 
influence on the political development of a 
nation. The historian dealing with the fate 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 39 

of any people must bear all these considera- 
tions in mind. 

The study of geography may be broadly Political 
divided into three principal sections, ancient, geograp y * 
mediaeval, and modern, corresponding to the 
general division of the three historical 
periods. There is, however, scarcely any 
branch of knowledge so changeable as geo- 
graphy, especially political geography. The 
historian will do best to take physical geo- Physical 
graphy for his basis. The general distribu- ge ° srap y * 
tion of land and water in a country, its 
mountains, steppes, high plains, low plains, 
hills, valleys, river systems, lakes, and the 
general configuration of the soil must be 
studied, and their influences on the formation 
of the different national characteristics traced. 
A striking instance of this action is furnished 
by the greater or less degree of the productive 
power of the soil. Cheap food retards the 
activity of a people, checks the accumulation 
of wealth, and causes a slower intellectual 
development. On the other hand, if food 
be scarce, and everyone bent on acquiring 
the necessaries of life, arts and sciences 
may flourish to stimulate trade and industry, 
but the dynamic force will be directed exclu- 
sively to commerce, neglecting all higher 
aspirations. 

II. — Archeology and Ethnology. 

Archaeology, as the knowledge of antiqui- ArciuBo- 
ties, forms one of the most important and logy * 



40 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

interesting branches in the study of history. 
In the products of art, as the visible embodi- 
ments of some inner thoughts, we may 
study the moral and intellectual standpoint 
of a nation. Temples, statues, ornaments, 
paintings, and pottery will afford a deep 
insight into the emotional and social con- 
dition of mankind. The ancient inscriptions 
on monuments in Assyria, Babylon, and 
Egypt have entirely changed our views with 
regard to these Empires. Whole lists of 
kings have been unearthed, and tile-books 
deciphered, the mere titles of which enable 
us to draw conclusions as to the state of 
civilization that must have once flourished 
on the shores of the Nile, the Euphrates, 
and the Tigris. 
Ethnology. Ethnology as the Science of the division 
of mankind into races, according to their 
bodily organization and intellectual capa- 
cities, explains the primary causes of the 
stationary or progressive character of their 
historical development. 

III. — Genealogy. 

Genealogy Genealogy is a merely subordinate auxili- 
ary of History, treating of the origin, 
propagation, and destinies of isolated families 
through several generations. The genealo- 
gical parts in historical compositions must 
always be subservient to the general aim the 

Heraldry, writer has in view. Genealogy, like heraldry, 
can only serve to enable the historian to 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 41 

verify certain characters, dates, ceremonies, 
&c, whilst numismatology (the knowledge Numisma- 
of coins) will furnish us with reliable data tol °sy- 
concerning the wealth and poverty, the 
condition of trade, industry, and commerce 
of nations at certain periods, Specialists in 
any of these branches will need to be very 
careful to systematize their subject, and to 
give the results of their researches chrono- 
logically arranged. 

Only Greeks, Italians, and Germans possess Greeks, 
general historians worthy of that name, and 
These nations never had a special, purely ^ m ^ e s ral 
national development. Though Aryans in historians. 
general, their ethnical formation was made 
up of extremely mixed elements. The 
Greeks were Asiatics, Phoenicians, and 
Egyptians related through their ancestors 
to Indians, Persians, Kelts, and Germans. 
The Italians were Goths, Visigoths, Longo- 
bards, Alanes, Etruscans, Herulians, Van- 
dals, Markomanni, united by the Romans. 
The Germans were Scandinavians, Sclavons, 
Goths, Rugi, Danes, Svevi, Saxons, Bur- 
gundians, Sigambri, Ingovanians, Istho- 
vanians, &c. In these three groups, formed 
of so many elements, very early a senti- 
ment of universal brotherhood was fostered, 
absorbing all racial and tribal particularism 
in their historians, who devoted their 
intellectual and artistic powers to the re- 
presentation of mankind from a general 
point of view. They did not one-sidedly 
concern themselves with local events, but 



42 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

applied their descriptive historical genius in 
masterly harmony, to reading philosophical 
lessons in the disconnected special traditions 
of these numerous tribes, for the benefit of the 
whole of humanity. In the works of the 
genuine historians of the three above-men- 
tioned nations, readers and students will never 
miss the general historical ground. Thejr will 
be equally carried away by the philosophical 
breadth and the artistic finish of these im- 
mortal writings. History, like poetry, must 
not only arouse one single noble feeling, or 
excite us to one patriotic action, but strive to 
stimulate all men to the highest possible 
exertion of their intellectual and moral 
powers. The principal products of such 
writers will occupy our special and careful 
attention in this work. 
Eomans, On the other hand we shall group together 
En d g i ish ' Roman, English, and French writers, in whom 
had the historical spirit from a general point of 

g ra e matlo Y ^ ew ? was -^ ess cultivated, and shall find that 
historians, the development of a special, exclusively 
national and political tendency, checked uni- 
versalism, or as some call it, in a sense of 
reproach, cosmopolitism ; as though a disregard 
of local or national prejudices were not one 
of the strongest means to elevate us to a 
higher and more powerful activity as human 
and humane beings. History, as the mother 
of wisdom, cannot possibly teach a particular 
wisdom to different nations, or pretend to 
assert, that all wisdom was concentrated in 
one nation, however mighty and civilized it 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 43 

may have been. Historians that take an 
isolated national standpoint, cultivate egotism 
and self-interest, they lose themselves in a 
narrow national or party spirit, whether 
religious or political. In every line they 
petrify their peculiar views, they see every- 
thing from one point only, believe exclusively 
in the goodness, virtue, and patriotism of 
those who share their views, and are totally 
blind to the acting and reacting forces, which 
produce real historical life in its eternally 
varying causal combinations. 

One-si dedness destroys all historical power. One-sided- 
Such special historians, however, must also 
interest us, because we can study in them 
with the greatest advantage, how narrow- 
mindedness must dwarf our powers of con- 
ception and observation, and how we are 
brought to look upon all the deeds of man- 
kind from a fixed standpoint, which may be 
Roman, English, or French, but which is 
not that of Humanity at large. 

We shall point out the masterpieces of all Prejudice 
nations, and thus place before our readers the ventkmai- 
best historical Universalists as well as Spe- ism - 
cialists, in order that they may study History 
on the best principles, free from all conven- 
tionalism and prejudice. Nothing is more 
apt to fetter our free and unbiassed judg- 
ment, than preconceived ideas, fostered by 
historians who make antiquated, obsolete 
traditions their strongholds, and whose 
very best efforts are tainted with blind 
bigotry. 



44 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Historiography, from a philosophical and 
critical point of view, has scarcely been 
attempted, and yet History must have its 
laws as well as language or logic. The laws 
of writing History can be best traced in a 
systematical and chronological survey of 
the principal works of the most prominent 
ancient, mediaeval, and modern writers. 
Purpose of Our work aims to serve historians as a 
guide how to write History, and to the 
general public as an aid to the correct read- 
ing of the subject. We have dwelt in general 
The useful- terms on the importance of the study of 
History History, but feel constrained to refer to this 
treated in somewhat more in detail, though it may 
appear as superfluous, as it would be to point 
out the usefulness of the sun, as the life-giving 
element of our globe. Yet there are still 
Colleges, Universities, and whole nations, 
that look down upon History, if not with 
contempt, at least with indifference. Some 
assert " History is to be enacted, and not to 
be written about, or studied." The privileged 
classes and the priests propound this principle, 
because they want alone to act History, and 
to exclude the masses from all self-conscious 
interference or participation in the destinies 
of humanity. Their argument has the same 
validity as the assertion would have, that lan- 
guages should be spoken, but grammars ought 
not to be written or perused. Others say: 
" What is the use of knowing lists of names of 
kings and queens, princes, nobles, heroes, 
learned men, and innumerable, often doubtful, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 45 

dates ? " This question we have amply 
answered ; for names and dates are not the 
most important, but, on the contrary, the 
least significant elements in History. 

The deeds of man with their motives and 
sequences ought to be equally, if not more 
powerfully interesting than poems and dramas 
written, pictures painted, sculptures chiselled, 
or houses built by man. It is true that 
History does not show us humanity in very 
bright colours ; and nationalists and religion- 
ists are afraid to find that their special race, 
or religious sect, may appear scarcely the 
very paragon of virtue, generosity, heroism, 
and progress, and they therefore try to sup- 
press the records of the past or to falsify 
them. But History teaches us the one grand Theprinci- 
lesson, that in the material as well as in the History 11 
intellectual world, slow and gradual develop- teaches. 
ments take place. The misdeeds, cruelties, 
and horrors of one age become the direct 
causes of heroic self-sacrifices, virtues, and 
geniality in another age. Not despair, but 
comfort and hope are to be gathered from 
the pages of History. The study of History 
becomes thus the most prolific source of the 
cultivation of our minds, and the promotion 
of our happiness. 

We are driven by an innate longing to the We are 
study of history, and if such a longing does ^{|^ d 
not exist in a nation at large, it must have innate 
been systematically and intentionally dead- JJe study 
ened, or altogether destroyed for certain of History. 
national, political, or religious purposes. In 



46 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

no other study can we make ourselves so 
thoroughly acquainted with the general prin- 
ciples of a continuity of cause and effect in 
the isolated and combined actions of man, 
as in history. Biology, with the help of phy- 
siology and psychology, teaches us the nature 
of living man, because " however we may in 
idea distinguish between the physical and 
spiritual worlds — between physical and moral 
relations — they are inextricably interwoven 
with each other in the human constitution 
and the experiences of life," and beings so 
constituted, are the agents that enact history. 
To study history is, in fact, to study man 
in all his intellectual and moral relations. 
Man's life is not only recognizable in history 
— it is history itself, and all those who are 
ignorant of history, are ignorant of all the 
similarity higher aims and tendencies of humanity. It 
iaws.° ral * s an essential fact "that wherever human 
beings are found, there something is called 
pood, right, true, virtuous, and, therefore, obli- 
gatory." In evidence of this we may mention 
that the laws of Confucius (Kon-fu-tsu), 
Sokrates, and Christ are, in their funda- 
mental moral principles perfectly identical ; 
for they are all based on that general some- 
thing, leading humanity to counteract another 
something " which is different and opposite, 
and is deemed evil, wrong, false, vicious, 
and is therefore made the object of censure 
and prohibition." Throughout the whole 
historical progress of humanity history be- 
comes, by bringing all generations and nations 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 47 

into one whole, the real consciousness of man- History 

kind. The experiences of past centuries, and !^£?°*" 

•ii 11 -± ± r i i • i scl0asne8S 

science with all its treasures, slowly acquired of 

in space and time by man in the various umanit y- 
countries of the world, form the sum total 
of our historical existence. Progress being 
the characteristic of human history, it must 
be of the utmost importance to be well 
acquainted with that progress, in order not 
to waste our time with developments, whether 
moral or political, scientific, or otherwise, 
through which other nations have long passed. 
We must strive to take up the thread of 
evolution, where others left it, and thus 
promote civilization. 

Nothing can be more pitiable than igno- ignorance 
ranee of general history. Instead of living History™ 1 
a life of cheerful consciousness of our moral 
dignity, as human beings, we are condemned 
to a state of utter helplessness. Nothing, 
that happens around us, has sense, no event 
a cause. Everything is exposed to a capri- 
cious variability, whether under the control 
of an assumed whimsical providence, or of 
the mere rule of chance. Those ignorant of 
History deny the theory of progress ; they 
groan for the good old times, and cannot see 
that humanity is continually advancing from 
bad to good, and from good to better. Rest- 
less uneasiness characterizes the mental 
condition of those, who have not made 
themselves acquainted with History; they 
are in continual fear, lest modern ideas 
should altogether destroy the world ; or lest 



48 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

the abolition of some insignificant court cere- 
mony, or doubt in a still more insignificant 
religious dogma, should shatter the whole 
moral foundation of nations. The historian 
knows only too well how many revealed 
dogmas have been superseded in time ; how 
many sacred prejudices have sunk in oblivion ; 
and how many gods and goddesses, that once 
peopled heaven and earth, to whom sacrifices 
have been offered, and pompous temples con- 
structed, live now only, as so many curiosi- 
ties in the memory of man, who, well versed 
in History, will assign not only every event, 
but also every metaphysical conception, to its 
proper cause. The historian will not extol 
ancient times at the expense of modern ; he 
will not despise what is national or glorify 
what is foreign ; and will be careful not to 
praise his own people, in blind national vanity, 
in order to look down with contempt on others. 
Above all, he will not allow himself to be 
deluded by any political or religious system. 
He will learn to consider all religions as the 
necessary outgrowths of our moral forces, and 
the impressions of natural phenomena, assum- 
ing different forms at different times, in 
different places, continually diminishing in 
importance with our increase of knowledge ; 
but growing in real morality and tolerance ; 
and will appreciate in individuals and nations 
what is true, right, and beautiful. Truth, 
as well as goodness and beauty, may appear 
in various forms, but in essence they must 
always be truth, goodness, and beauty. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 49 

History is thus the only true and firm basis 
of science, virtue, and art. 

In studying History we see events as they Space and 
follow one another, connected by the chain theTreffects 
of causation. We are carried back into former °? the / 

v *ii j_i i v i i r historian. 

ages ; we live with those who lived belore 
us ; we inhabit foreign countries which we 
have never seen, at times, that have long past 
away. Space and time are thus at our 
mental disposal ; the former is enlarged, the 
latter prolonged. The student of History 
may acquire in a few years an extended 
knowledge of mankind, and the experience 
of thousands of years, which will serve him 
as a guide for his own private and public 
life. 

History is indispensable to enable us to 
keep pace with the progressive development 
of our times. Not only the History of our own 
country, but that of others, is necessary to 
show us, how we stand in the list of com- 
peting nations. People who seek to improve 
their culture, must constantly watch the 
changes in the political and social condition 
of foreign nations. They must be familiar 
with every new discovery and invention ; 
with the organization ol literary and scien- 
tific institutions, and with the agrarian, 
commercial, and industrial laws; for in 
comparing these with those of their own 
country, and observing their effects on the 
stationary or progressive character, and the 
periodically occurring commotions to which, 
the life of other nations is subject, they will 

E 



50 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

be in a position to promote reforms in their 
own country. 
Diploma- Diplomatists and Politicians must be 
politicians we ^ acquainted with general History. The 
whole of their power and influence, at home 
as well as abroad, depends not only on their 
acquaintance with the customs, usages, and 
manners of a country, but above all on their 
knowledge of the historical phases through 
which nations have passed. These phases 
being the results of the indefatigable and 
incessant efforts, which all peoples make to 
adjust the disturbed balance of their moral 
and intellectual forces, the consideration of 
them must enable the politician to direct the 
destinies of his own country successfully, 
and to avoid all useless and futile experiments. 
Soldiers. The Soldier will find in History a record 
of all that is grand and heroic in man, when 
he sacrifices himself for the honour, welfare, 
and security of his country.- The soldier in 
history is the most striking representative of 
the combined working of the two forces in 
humanity. He is the guardian of peace as 
the static, and the instrument of war as the 
dynamic element in mankind. The military 
profession of our times has changed like 
everything else. Formerly brute force, in- 
spired by fanaticism or enthusiasm, decided 
the fate of nations on the blood-stained battle- 
fields ; now it is an accurate and scientific 
study and knowledge of the acting and re- 
acting, moving and resisting forces that 
must gain the day ; brute force has to yield 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 51 

to intellect; and, in the conflict between man 
and man, the superior dynamic force will 
conquer, if well balanced by discipline and 
obedience, as the static force. 

The Jurist learns through History the Jurists 
inner organization of humanity in the varia- 
tions of legislative efforts. Immanuel Kant, 
the greatest German philosopher of the last 
century, saw the principal aim of mankind 
in the solution of the problem, "to form 
governments for the administration of justice." 
Laws are the clearest and least deceptive 
mirror of the moral, and at the same time, 
intellectual condition of a nation. From the 
arbitrary will of a despot to the civil and 
intellectual freedom of the few at first, and 
finally to the emancipation of the many, a 
continuous uninterrupted progress can be 
traced in various nations. The very contrarv 
takes, place in an inverted ratio, when the 
masses, after having abused their popular 
rights for anarchical purposes, attempt to 
restrict their own excesses by entrusting 
special powers to a selected few, who finally 
fall again under the despotic rule of one. 
These changes are reflected in the laws 
of different nations during their different 
historical phases, and without an acquaint- 
ance with these important incidents, no jurist 
can hope to attain a higher standing in his 
profession. The " Spirit of the Laws " of 
the Greeks, Komans, Teutons, French, or 
English evidence different social and political 
developments. Wherever laws have hindered 

E 2 



52 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

the intellectual and moral forces in their free 
activity, progress has been impossible, and 
after violent commotions, the decline and 
downfall of mighty empires has taken 
place. 
Theoio- Theologians, priests, literati, philosophers, 

gians and and religious teachers will learn from History 
pheis. " that the moral force of humanity is not based 
on dogmatic assertions, on outward formulae, 
symbolic performances, on green or yellow 
dresses, special beliefs in this or that teacher, 
but only on law, innate and ingrafted in man's 
very organization. They will find that to 
talk religion is much easier than to act 
religiously ; that there is an immense dif- 
ference between mere formalism and the 
observance of those eternal principles of 
virtue, justice, and love, which have been 
revealed to man through his more highly 
gifted, intellectual leaders at different periods, 
in different forms; and that man maybe good 
and virtuous under all zones, and in all 
tongues, and under all sorts of religious 
systems. Their hearts will be thus widened, 
their intellects expanded, and they will be 
enabled to further the pure action of our 
moral force, without checking or misleading 
our intellectual power, or tying us down to 
incredibilities, or to assertions, contrary to 
the dictates of reason. Their vocation is to 
promote in man a correctly balanced use of 
his moral and intellectual capacities. 

We have now stated the paramount import- 
ance of the study of history in general as 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 53 

well as in particular, and carefully pointed 
out the difficulties which historians have to 
encounter and to avoid, not only in writing, 
but also in reading and studying History. 
We have also enumerated the moral and intel- 
lectual qualifications indispensable in a his- 
torian, endeavoured to place History on a 
scientific basis, and have impressed our readers 
with the necessity of distinguishing history 
from mere annals or catalogues of events. 

History has been called the " Science of^ istor y 
Sciences," and to write the Science of such a "Science 
Science, may almost seem a superhuman g f ciences » 
task. But it has been possible to write the 
History of the "Cosmos," and we need not 
shrink from tracing, stating, and verifying 
laws in the vast phenomena of man's histori- 
cal development. 

The period in which man became dimly 
conscious of his own moral and intellectual 
nature, and tried to discover explanations 
for the phenomena around him, and within 
him, and to establish the possibility of his 
own social existence — the great period of 
man's emotional exertions, when the whole 
of his efforts were concentrated on revealing 
laws in the name of the Deity, worshipped 
under one name or another, we will only 
cursorily refer to, though, this first period, 
glorified by the names of Manu, Menes, Osiris, 
Zoroaster, Buddha, Moses, and Confucius, 
is one of the highest interest, for its laws, 
moral principles, and social enactments still 
form the very foundation of man's historical 



$$ 









THE SCIEN( E OF HISTORY, 



development. Some nations, like the Chi- 
nese, Japanese, Jews, and Persians, can 
only be studied in their holy books. We 
shall content ourselves, however, with trac- 
ing History on its own field, beginning with 
the Greeks as the first historically self- 
conscious nation which has left us imperish- 
able models of real History. 















THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 55 



CHAPTER II. 

Before entering upon an analysis of the Origin- and 
Historiography of the Greeks, we must make JTthe 8 * 
our readers acquainted, in broad outlines, with Greeks, 
the component elements of their character. 

Ethnologically the Greeks were descend- 
ants of the Cis-Himalayan Aryans. They 
wandered through Central Asia ; peopled the 
coasts, and reached on two roads, North and 
South, the European peninsula and the sur- 
rounding islands. Asia was not only ethno- 
logically but also lingually, the birthplace of 
the Greeks. We have succeeded, by means of 
Comparative Philology, in tracing the origin 
of their language to the Sanskrit, spoken and 
written on the shores of the Ganges thousands 
of years before the Greeks emerged into a 
national existence. The Sanskrit language 
was already dead, when the Greeks com- 
menced to give shape and form to their own. 

Asia was that part of our globe in which Asia as the 
the first forms of civilization sprang up and ^^^ 
developed in three different centres. We tion. 
cannot possibly pass over these centres with 
their distinct geographical configuration, and 
the ethnical differences of their population. 

The Black Aborigines common in the South The black 
of Asia, though more especially in Africa, without 6 
had neither Chronicles nor History. To the chronicles 
Blacks we must add all those that live under t0 ry. 



56 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

the frigid zone. The inclemency of the 

climate and the sterility of the soil, in those 

regions, have nipped the germs of a historical 

development in the very bud. 

The yellow The mighty and numerous groups of the 

ohroDictes 6 Yellow men had, till lately, chronicles, and a 

and a sta- peculiar historical development that reached 

tionary x , . -i ^ . .-,. ,. . . -, 

history. & certain degree ot civilization at a period, 

when other nations were in a savage or 

barbarous condition, but then remained 

stationary. 

The white Only the White men, the Aryans, had a 

TflultuYt- fluctuating and continually progressive his- 

ingpro- tory; with the exception of the Indians, who 

history! through the influence of climate, aspect of 

nature, and geographical position, had only 

a limited historical development. 

The geo- In considering the course of civilization in 

contigura- Asia we must omit the northern slopes, called 

tion of Siberia, as being beyond the pale of History, 

and distinguish the following geographical 

centres. 

First pen- I. We have first a massive upland with a 

tre : China • -i , , • i • • • , i 

and India, mighty mountain chain comprising the very 
highest summits of the earth. This upland 
is bounded on the South and South East by 
the Mus-Tagh or Imaus, parallel to which, 
farther South, runs the Himalaya chain. 
Towards the East mountains extend from 
South to North, forming the basin of the 
Amoor. On the North lie the Altai and 
Songarian mountains, in connection with the 
latter in the North West is the Musart, and 
in the West the Belur-Tagh, which is again 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 57 

united by the Hindoo-Koosh chain with the 
Mus-Tagh. This high mountain girdle is 
broken through by streams, which inun- 
date and fertilize immense valley plains, like 
those of China, intersected by the Hoang-ho 
and the Yang-Tse-Kiang, or those of India, 
watered by the Granges and Indus. These 
are regions of perfect isolation. 

II. Next we have the lands of the Tigris Second 
and Euphrates, which rise in Armenia, and Persia," 
hold their course along the Persian mountains. ^Bal 
The Caspian Sea has similar river valleys ; ion. 
in the East, those formed by the Oxus and 
Jaxartes (Gihon and Sihon) which pour their 
waters into the Sea of Aral ; in the West 
those of the Cyrus and Araxes (Kur and 
Aras). Here we have regions of transitional 
intercommunication. 

III. Finally, keeping upland and plain Third 
quite distinct, we trace the third centre Arabfaj 
which is an intermixture of the two, namely: ? y . ria ? r and 
" Arabia, the land of the Desert, the upland 

of plains, the abode of glowing activity and 
fanaticism. To this belong Syria and Asia 
Minor, connected with the sea and having 
constant intercourse with Europe." A region 
of continuous change. 

From a West-European standpoint we may 
best divide Asia into China, and the regions 
of the Cis- and Trans-Himalayan Aryans, 
to which we must add that of the Semitic 
race. A pastoral state predominates in the 
upland; agriculture and trades are culti- 
vated in the valley plains ; while commerce 



58 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

and navigation are pursued in the last 

division. 
Devoiop- In these three centres humanity very- 
humanity early developed but did not attain histori- 
in these ca | self-consciousness. In China, from the 
tres. most ancient times, the static or moral force 

in humanity has been one-sidedly cultivated, 

India* and anc ^ ^y ^is means the people have remained 
stationary. 

In India we see another phenomenon, the 
exclusive culture of the dynamic or intel- 
lectual force, misled by an ill-regulated 
The static imagination. Whilst the Chinese may be 
China" 3 sa ^ ^° naye worked out to perfection a moral 
code, based on the five principles of humanity, 
justice, conformity, uprightness, sand sincerity, the 
The By- Indians have roamed in the realms of the super- 
Tn indiaT 6 natural, and built up for humanity a store- 
house of mystic dogmas — from the assertion 
of the Unity of the Deity in Trinity ; the theory 
of the incarnation of the second person of this 
Trinity; the salvation of the soul; of heaven 
and hell, as abodes of reward and punishment; 
of angels and devils ; beatifications and 
damnations, down to the most abstruse meta- 
physical problems. The Indians invented a 
variety of mysterious creeds and religious 
tenets, with endless sacrificial performances ; 
they systematized theogonies and cosmo- 
gonies in every shape and form ; they prac- 
tised ritualistic ceremonies to such an extent 
that all later outgrowths of these Indian 
prototypes of incomprehensible theological 
systems, sink into dwarfish insignificance 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 59 

compared with their originals. Whatever 
imagination could dream of in the realm of 
religions myths, visions, legends, and mira- 
cles, was done by the Indians thousands and 
thousands of years ago. The sacred Vedantic Periods of 

i • i r Ti i i • • i Indian de- 

hymn-period was followed by an epic period veiopment. 
of great poetical beauty, but unlimited exag- 
geration ; then came the period of the laws 
of Manu ; the mighty reformation of Buddha 
(Gautama or Foh) ; and finally the spread of 
Mahometanism. The historical past of India 
may be designated as a philosophical religious 
trance, during which the whole moral and 
intellectual vitality was concentrated, spent 
upon, absorbed, and directed by an unin- 
terrupted effort, to solve the nature of the 
Deity, and to explain the phenomena of 
nature by means of arbitrarily assumed dei- 
fications of the forces pervading the uni- 
verse. A free individual and national life 
was under such circumstances an impossi- 
bility. It is a characteristic proverb of the An Indian 
Indians: " that to sit is better than to go; 
to lie better than to sit; to sleep better than 
to be awake ; but the best of all is death.' 5 
History is active life, and a nation with such 
a proverb, extolling death as the greatest 
boon, could not well have a historically 
progressive development. 

The Egyptians in Africa, which we ought T fae 
to consider as the most western part of Asia, m Africa. 
present an equally striking phenomenon. 
They form a transition empire between 
Blacks, Yellows, and Whites. Shut up into 



60 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

the Nile valley between the Lybian and 
Arabian mountain chains, they had a de- 
velopment of their own. We possess the 
names of the kings of not less than thirty 
Egyptian dynasties, from Menes to Alexander 
the Great ; yet the people are only brought 
into importance, religiously through the Jews, 
and philosophically and scientifically through 
the Greeks. The Egyptians unconsciously 
cultivated the static and dynamic forces work- 
ing in humanity, but they did this only in a 
privileged priest-caste. The millions were 
left in dire ignorance, and had blindly to 
obey their despotic priesthood. The Egypt- 
ians lived to die. Their political life was 
thus turned into an eternal historical death. 
We are now able to survey the mighty 
Egyptian state-mummy, to read inscriptions 
on pyramids, temples, sphinxes, obelisks, 
sarcophagi, tablets, and papyrus scrolls, but 
the whole of Egypt's existence would have 
been lost, had the Greeks not opened her 
mystic shrines and afforded us some glimpses 
into the grand and mighty Egyptian state- 
mystery. As soon as the Egyptians came 
into contact with live nations, the ancient 
state-illusion fell to pieces in the valley of 
the Nile. As a symbolic entity the Egyptian 
was something, but as a social or political 
reality he was nothing. 
The Like the Chinese and Indians, the Egyp- 

dJireiop* tians could boast of an exclusive home-sprung 
ment was, development with excellent moral laws, 

like that of n *■ . . -n • i t iti 

the Chinese deep, mystic, allegorical, and symbolical 



. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 61 

religious dogmas, a vast knowledge of the J™^ 
hidden powers of nature, some notions of home- ' 
astronomy, medicine, and chemistry; but all s P ran s- 
the efforts of their intellectual powers were 
to aid their mighty hierarchy to hold the 
masses in bondage and awe, comforting people 
for a laborious and wretched life, wasted in 
this world, by the promise of a glorious 
existence in another, when they would share 
the splendour of Osiris, Isis, and Horus. 

These three mighty nations possess no Persians, 
History in the true sense of the word. It Babyhm-' 
was quite different with the Persians, As- iansand 
Syrians, Babylonians, and Hebrews. But Heblcw 
History with them was rather negative than 
positive in its working. They were completing 
elements in the destinies of central Asia, but 
the masses had to follow blindly the whimsi- 
cal dictates of kings, prophets, and lawgivers, 
or of some visible or invisible despot, for 
whose sake the millions of the people, the 
richest as well as the poorest, the wisest and 
the most ignorant, were assumed to have 
been born. The autocratic state organizations 
were formed, but the self-conscious nations 
were wanting. The Persians, Assyrians, 
and Babylonians sighed under their visible 
kings and satraps. The Jews trembled 
under their invisible Javeh, of whom they Javeh, the 
hoped that he would continually act and autocrat 
interfere in their favour, to make his chosen of ^ 
people masters of the world; in this 
belief they lost all political and national 
vitality, and became only grand, important^ 



tion 



62 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

and heroic in their Titanic sufferings when 
trampled under foot as slaves by other 
nations. 
No history Asia anc [ Africa had not yet developed 
Africa. that self-conscious life in the peoples that 
makes History a possibility. In these two 
parts of the world we can study the un- 
historical spirit of humanity, whilst in turning 
to Europe we find again three centres of 
historical action, defined by the geographical 
configuration. 
Europe and The European mountains are in general of 
graphical very moderate height, no uplands are im- 
:ura- mediately contrasted by immense valley 
plains ; the natural impressions everywhere 
are softened down. There is an endless 
variety of nationalities and tribes which, 
influenced by natural inter-dependence, early 
felt the necessity of tolerance, preserving 
strict tribal relations in general, and fostering 
an indomitable disposition to develope the 
individual character with often reckless 
freedom. These were the most important 
elements in the formation of the progressive 
History of Europe. 
First (1.) Greece and Italy in the South are 

Sn r tre 6an se P ara ted by the Pyrenees, the Alps, the 
Carpathian and Balkan mountain chains from 
central Europe. Here we find the magnifi- 
cent seat of an early historical development, 
in a climate that is unique in geniality and 
loveliness, a fit abode for man to become free 
in religion, arts and sciences, and to culti- 
vate a superior state of the most important 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 63 

social and political relations in humanity. 
In this region of the world we see man, on 
the stage of History, playing the part of a 
youthful and manly hero, constructing, pull- 
ing down and reconstructing social organiza- 
tions, freely using his moral and intellectual 
forces in an unwearied attempt to find the 
proper balance for the development of both. 

(2.) The second centre lies on the slopes Second 
of these mountain ranges towards the ^^, ean 
North- West of Europe, comprising the heart, 
if we may say so, of European humanity, 
with France, England, and Germany as 
component elements. 

(3.) The third centre is found in the North- Third 
Eastern plains, harbouring half Asiatic, half centX*" 1 
European thoughts, not yet freed from the 
fetters of oriental despotism; a survival of 
the ancient Persian autocracy, counteracted 
by the civilizing influences of Western 
Europe. History in Bussia and the Slavonic 
kingdoms is yet in an embryonic state. The 
people are swayed by passions and preju- 
dices, and an all-powerful bureaucracy of 
a Perso-Roman organization, which has no 
real vitality, and must necessarily lead to 
wars or internal commotions, from which we 
hope in the end to see the people emerge as 
free agents of their own History. 

The social and religious development of Greece and 
Greece, like that of the Jews, and conse- gyp ' 
quently of Christian Europe, had its origin 
in Egypt. For a long period the Egyptians 
attempted to solve the problem of the civili- 



64 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

zation of humanity ; but they left the task to 
a hierarchy which shut itself up in one grand 
and incomprehensible mystery. Before the 
priests of Egypt turned to man and nature, 
they wanted to make themselves, and, through 
their medium, the people acquainted with the 
E^ e t* g rea ^ " Unknown." They expended all their 
mystery, intellectual vitality on the question, u What 
is that that was, that is, and that shall be ? " 
To which question after all, humanity in 
thousands or millions of years, will but be 
able to give the same answer, in whatever 
variations, forms, or dialects : "I am what 
was, what is, and what shall be." Now the 
concentration of all man's moral and intel- 
lectual faculties on the solution of this sphinx- 
like riddle,made it impossible for the Egyptians 
to emerge from the mystic and symbolic into 
the natural and comprehensible. They were 
content to live, to work, to die shrouded in the 
one great " lam I " mystery. The "I am I v 
never struck man in Egypt as being his own 
case. He never applied the universal idea 
to his particular individuality. This was the 
cause why the Egyptians could find no other 
solution for humanity than one, that was alto- 
gether far beyond, and far above them. With- 
out self-consciousness they lost themselves 
in a riddle, that crushed their earthly vitality, 
and turned Egyptian arts and sciences into 
a mystic, unintelligible chaos, and life into a 
surrender to the eternal " I am I " incompre- 
hensibility. The Jews continued to cherish 
this mystery, but as a known entity — at least, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 65 

known to Moses and the prophets — and the 
consequence was that they as little succeeded 
in establishing a free, social, and political ex- 
istence as did the Egyptians when they left 
the narrow valley of the Nile. The Greeks The Greek 
acted differently. This action is recorded in ? olutlon of 
one of their myths. When Apollo, the god of 
wisdom, the leader of the Muses, was asked : 
"What is the duty of Man V he answered: 
"Know thyself" With this Divine command 
given to the Greeks, in these words, was laid 
down the only possible germ of a historical 
consciousness for humanity, and the Greeks 
were undoubtedly the first people who under- 
stood, not only how to act history, but also 
how to write it. 

To comprehend the Greeks in their de- Greek 
velopment, it will be necessary to glance at f^ ry 
their History from a general point of view. It general 
is the principal, and at the same time, most ^^ of 
difficult task of the historian to sum up in 
brief outlines the historical life of any nation, 
and to do this in such a manner, that all the 
details may fit into them as mere secondary 
and accidental occurrences, receiving shape 
and importance through the firmly estab- 
lished outlines. 

Greece lies at the Entrance Gate of Geogra- 
Europe, and consists of a number of sporadic pM ?^ e 

. , ± ' -, . , xt i • position of 

islands and a peninsula. .Nowhere is so Greece. 
large a coast-line found, surrounding so 
small a territorial surface. Greece stands in 
the same relation to the development of His- 
tory in the South-East, as England in the 



66 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

North-West of Europe, and Japan in the 
North-East of Asia. These three centres of 
civilization have a striking analogy in their 
Variety, geographical configuration. An immense 
symmetry, var i e ty f creeks, capes, promontories, inlets, 
harmony, and harbours, are found, alike in Greece, 
England, and Japan. No streams like the 
Hoang-ho, the Ganges, or the Nile ; no 
mountains like the Himalaya or the Belur- 
Tagh. Gorgeous uniformity is the character- 
istic of China and India ; gloomy mysticism is 
the element of the Nile valley ; variety and 
change form the first source of the Greek 
world. Mountains, plains, valleys, and streams, 
are all of limited size. A sweet harmony 
pervades nature ; there is nothing to over- 
awe man ; nothing to force him eternally to 
tremble before some unknown power. The 
smiling earth gives man a pleasant home, 
adorned with chattering brooks and cheerful 
hills, shrubs and flowers. " Valley chases 
valley ; rivulet pursues rivulet ; clouds follow 
clouds; the morning dawn flies before the 
bright noon, and the noon dies away in the 
cool sighs of the evening breezes into the 
embrace of dark night." 
The prm- Th^ Greeks, from the beginning, absorbed 
component into their religious, social, and political organi- 
element s zation, Indian poetical grandeur, tempered 
classic by Persian realism, enlightened by Egyptian 
times. wisdom. We must make ourselves tho- 
roughly acquainted with these component ele- 
ments, in order to comprehend the character 
of the Greeks of Classic Times. The Greeks 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 67 

never could perceive the dreary " dualism" Persian 
in Nature, propounded by the Persians, and Hebrew- 
left to the Jews as a sad legacy. Accord- duali8m - 
ing to the holy books of the Persians, Ormuzd 
and Ahriman, God and Satan, (or good and 
evil), were everlastingly at strife, and the 
fact that unhappily Satan (Ahriman) appeared 
successful in the struggle, poisoned the whole 
moral atmosphere of those nations, that clung 
with incredible pertinacity to this dualistic hy- 
pothesis. But the Greeks borrowed from the 
Persians great personal courage, and trans- 
ferred the independence of their autocrats to 
every Greek citizen. The Satrapies of Persia 
became the Politeia (commonwealths), or com- 
munities of the Greeks, in which the citizens, 
who tried to know their own individual nature, 
formed free, and self-conscious units, as so 
many unrestrained factors in the state. The 
Greeks welcomed Egyptian ideas, which they 
divested of all symbolic mysticism, and unin- 
telligible prejudices. The hawk-headed or 
cat-headed deities, even in the shape of beau- 
tiful men and women, were looked upon as 
mere eidola ; representing, in an outward 
visible form, a secret invisible force or 
phenomenon of nature. 

The Greeks spread everywhere the bright The 
fruits of independent freedom, brought from S, r r e e ad a 
Persia, invigorated by Thrakian heroism feeling of 
from the North, and Egyptian learning ^nt Pen " 
from the South ; whilst Phoenicia inspired freedom. 
them with the vivifying spirit of enterprise 
and commerce. The Greeks distinguished 

f 2 



68, THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

themselves, above all, from the Eastern 
nations, by their decided hatred of every- 
thing arbitrary, mystic, and incompre- 
hensible. Out of a variety of moral and 
intellectual elements, national customs and 
manners, sprang that ideal unity, which made 
the Greeks the first genuine representatives 
of the progressive historical development of 
humanity at large. 
Greek The mythic Theogony and Cosmogony of 

and Cos n - ies Hesiod, based on faint Indian and Egyptian 
mogonies. echoes, vibrating through the pre-historic 
life of the Greeks, formed a basis for a strictly 
scientific treatment of the nature of the gods, 
and the earth's formation. The monstrous 
divine phantoms of Asia became with the 
Greeks, demons that taught humanity some 
truth, or some useful trade, art, or commercial 
enterprise. The Greeks had philosophical 
notions of the abstract essence of the Deity ; 
but, in the concrete, they could only compre- 
The hend it in the well-proportioned form of a 

blending } luman being. Thus they succeeded in blend- 
ot S the e ing the Divine with the Human, making their 
Divine and g 0C [ s m0 re humane ; and in welding the human 
with the divine, they raised men towards the 
divine. This harmonious union between the 
universal or divine, and the special or human, is 
the most important feature in Greek thought. 
The gods with the Indians and Egyptians also 
assumed a human form, but these incarna- 
tions had some mystic, supernatural aim. The 
incarnation was a sacrifice of the Deity to 
save man from his wretched bondage : it was 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 69 

not, as with the Greeks, a direct humanization 
of the gods, and a deification of humanity. 
Having worked out these ideas, and used 
them practically for the elevation of their 
individual character, the Greeks were capable 
of developing that powerful activity in arts 
and sciences, which constitutes the bright 
phenomenon of their History. 

Heaven was, according to Greek poetry, character 
an abode of bliss and happiness, placed high q t ^£ 
on Mount Olympus, where Zeus, the father gods. 
of the gods and men, was enthroned ; where 
every god was a free agent in his sphere, fol- 
lowing his own calling, either as sun-god, 
god of fire, god of water, or as a minor god 
of the winds, spring, love, gracefulness, 
beauty, victory, or fortune. The heavenly 
organization of the Olympian gods was a 
divine democratic confederacy. When the 
inquisitive Greeks went up to Mount 
Olympus in Thessaly, and found no gods 
there, they removed them to heaven, but 
brought down from the lofty mountain the 
democratic organization of the gods for men. 
What poets, like Homer and Hesiod, did for 
the gods, lawgivers, like Lykurgus, and Solon, 
did for the free citizens of Greece. Zeus, 
the king of heaven, often took counsel with 
his gods and goddesses, so did the Greek 
kings with their people. The kings ruled, 
but under the advice and with the help of 
the people ; they were to be fathers to their 
subjects, benevolent guardians to free and 
emancipated children, who having come of 



70 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

age, felt freedom to be their indispensable 
birthright. Marriage was sacred ; family 
relations and disinterested friendship were 
held in honour. 
Greek No wonder that the social and political 

w°ise S iaw? development of the Greeks entirely differed 
givers the from that of any of the surrounding empires 
Senate- m the East. Poets and wise lawgivers based 
principle, the foundation of the different independent 
states on the firm principles of a moral order, 
pervading the universe, and of a free divine 
intellect, manifesting itself in man when 
obeying that universal moral order. Life 
with the Greeks was a pilgrimage full of joy 
and often full of woe, during which the tra- 
veller had to trust in his own human dignity, 
to take ripe experience, bright reason, and lofty 
virtue for his leaders, avoiding wild passion, 
heartless covetousness, and pale envy. Man 
was to brave adversity, in whatever form it 
might step into his path, and even in the 
storm of fate not lose courage, for man was 
to be his own master, and had to owe every- 
thing he attained, to his own exertions. 
Peace and happiness were sure to be the final 
rewards of such a life. 
Gi :f ek On such principles men could but be 

id Hugh og 

still felt happy, good, and free. The Greeks were 
thedvii- ■^' ee ' P rac tised virtue, and laid down the 
ized world, general laws which still are the foundation 
of our attempts in poetry, art, politics, 
and philosophy. Truthfulness to man's own 
most glorious nature, was the Psean which 
the Greeks sang in a loud chorus through 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOKY. 71 

the world. Their festival song still resounds 
in the hearts of all civilized nations, on the 
shores of the Danube, the Thames, the 
Spree, the Seine, the Tiber, the Ohio, or the 
Mississippi, in hundreds of different tongues, 
in numberless books, commentaries, and 
essays. 

Nothing strikes us more forcibly in the Hesiod's 
historical phenomena of the Greeks than the oTde^elop- 
systematic and gradual process of their ment. 
moral, intellectual, artistic, and philosophical 
development. Referring to the oldest myths 
recorded by Hesiod, or the poet of the " Works 
and Days," we find that he begins with 
six periods, analogous to the six stages of 
the historical development which we de- 
scribed — Chapter I. The " paradisiacal state," 
(our savage state), corresponds to Hesiod's 
first golden race; men suffered neither sickness 
nor old age, and their death was but a gentle 
sleep. The causes, why the gods did away 
with the golden, and next made a silver race, 
are not stated ; this second race is described 
as reckless and mischievous — it refused to 
worship and to sacrifice. The third was 
called a brazen race, made of hard ashwood, 
(this being the material used for the handles 
of bronze spears); they were pugnacious 
and " of immense strength with adamantine 
souls." Their arms, houses, and their imple- 
ments were all brass, there was no iron. 
Next a fourth race, just and virtuous, com- 
prising heroes and demigods, was created, 
and removed to the Island of the Blest, where 



72 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

they dwell in peace, under the government of 
Kronos (Time), " reaping thrice in the year 
the spontaneous produce of the earth." The 
fifth race was of iron. The historical, self-con- 
scious age is here meant, though it is described 
as dishonest, ungrateful, and given to perjury. 
In fact, it is the age in which man, having 
reached a higher state of self- evolution, sees 
all that is wrong in life, without trying to find 
out the causes of evils, which often originate 
in the entirely false and unnatural organiza- 
tion of society, creating a total disturbance 
of the two forces working in humanity. The 
violent actions and reactions, in such a state, 
are set down as a proof of man's general 
wickedness, degeneration and depravity ; an 
assertion, slandering the Deity and mankind 
in general, and every individual in particular. 
The de- There are two distinct hvpotheses which 

and go through the histories of all nations ; that 

hy 0l o- tlorL °f so-called degeneration, and that of evolu- 
these?. tion. The first starts in conformity with the 
Egyptian idea that the gods once ruled on 
earth, or the Hebrew assumption of a para- 
dise, or the Greek " Golden race"; and the 
other, having reason and experience for its 
basis, asserts that man has developed slowly, 
from the unconscious savage state into a 
higher and more civilized, that is, morally 
and intellectually better balanced condition. 
The degeneration hypothesis is a mere 
assumption, having vivid imagination for its 
support; whilst the other hypothesis has been 
worked out, through correct observations and 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOKY. 73 

analogies, into a well authenticated theory, 
which we may best trace in Greek history, 
affording" an indisputable proof of the slow 
and gradual progress of humanity. 

I. The mythic period in Greece abounds The *»y- 
in everything incredible and supernatural. % Greek"* 
Stones become men and women. The teeth history. 
of dragons are sown, and turned into armed 
men, killing each other. Fire-spitting mon- 
sters infest caves and groves. Gods fight 
with Titans. A man (Prometheus) tries to 
make men out of clay, steals fire from heaven 
and vivifies his clay figures ; for this attempt 
the jealous god chains him to an isolated 
mountain. Wild beasts are tamed bv the sound 
of a lyre. The sun-god Apollo falls in love 
with Daphne, who is changed into a laurel 
tree. The gods have human children, who 
become demigods and heroes. Brooks are 
full of charming and sportive sirens and 
naiads; woods are filled with nymphs, dryads, 
satyrs, and fauns ; whilst Erinyes (fairies, 
spirits of revenge), execute the commands of 
Hades and Persephone* in the interior of the 
earth. But even this mythic period has 
reality for its basis. Poetical fancy was too 
tangible in such myths, to have allowed 
the Greeks to look on them otherwise, 
than as mere attempts to personify the 
secret workings of nature. Zeus became 
matter, or the visible in creation ; Poseidon 
water; and Hephsestus fire. But matter, 
water, and fire — or rather cosmical ether, 
moisture, and heat, are undoubtedly the 



74 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

elements out of which everything has been,- 
is, and must be formed. The mythic period 
served to lead the Greeks on to science and 
philosophy. 
The heroic jj # 'p]^ ]i ero ic period of Greek history 
Greek embraces a higher state of national con- 
history. sciousness, when the poetical imagination 
had softened down, and only slightly mingled 
the supernatural with more tangible deeds of 
reality. The Homeric and post-Homeric 
heroes and heroines are all real men and 
women. Enterprise, activity, daring adven- 
tures are the fundamental characteristics of 
this period. Dishonesty and ingratitude are 
punished and avenged often in the children's 
children of the evil-doer; in this fact we 
may trace the eternal law of cause and effect, 
and the scientific theory of descent, natural 
selection, and heredity, applied to morals. 
Greek gen- During this period innumerable genealo- 
eaogies. ^ eg were worked out, which should not 
occupy a student or writer of History, except 
as a means, to convince himself of the fact, 
that " Every association of men, large or 
small, in whom there existed a feeling of 
present union, traced back that union to 
some common initial progenitor, that pro- 
genitor being either the common god whom 
they worshipped, or some semi-divine person 
closely allied to him." (See Grote's " History 
of Greece," vol. i. page 80.) So far such 
genealogies are of interest, but they are 
always the least reliable elements in History. 
They were less dangerous with the Greeks, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 75 

because the human and divine, the historical p ifference 
and unhistorical were so evident, that with Greek and 
the growing consciousness and knowledge of !l r n ea! al 
the people the unreliable, imaginary charac- logies. 
ter of these narrations was recognized — this 
circumstance was one of the causes, why 
the Greeks were able to write real History 
earlier, than any other nation. Assyrians, 
Babylonians, Egyptians, and Jews also had 
genealogies, of which those of the last 
especially, were taken for thousands of years 
to the letter, as revealed and sacred historical 
records, and have thus retarded, and yet 
retard, the study of true history in many 
bigoted circles. 

History can only be correctly studied when 
the mind is entirely unbiassed ; it can never be 
based on inspiration from on high, but only on 
a correct knowledge of facts, to verify which is 
extremely difficult at certain extra-historical 
periods, when writers draw more upon their 
imagination, than on a thorough understand- 
ing of possibilities and probabilities. If false 
statements have been made the basis of his- 
tory for thousands of years, the historian has 
the difficult task, first to destroy their incor- 
rectness, and then to show, to what extent 
they may have embodied some real historical 
facts. From this point of view we must 
consider the records of Inachus, Phoroneus, 
and Io, of Danaos and the Dana'ides, Perseus 
and the Gorgons, and the interesting, but 
scarcely intelligible legend of Herakl^s and 
the Herakleids. The tales about Deukalion, 



76 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Hellen, the sons of Hellen, and the Deluge 
also belong to this category. 
T^ ^ The Deluge of Deukalion has only this in 

Deuka- common with that of Noah, or the much 
ll6n - older account of a general submersion of the 
earth under water, to purify humanity from 
its sins, in Indian poems and law-books, 
Assyrian and Babylonian records ; that vast 
partial inundations undoubtedly took place, 
and still take place, in valley-plains, intersected 
by large, not yet regulated, rivers. The 
different mountains that are mentioned in 
the different records, and the different regions, 
in which the few saved persons land, to 
repeople the earth, are so many rocky proofs, 
that in these histories each nation refers only 
to a partial inundation with a convenient 
mountain in the neighbourhood, on which the 
Proof of escaped land. The mythical character of a 
mythical g enera l Deluge is proved by the very date 
character assigned to it. The fact that many, other- 
general w i se sensible people firmly believe in this 
Deluge, date, is a sad proof of the ease with which 
chronology may be falsified. The Egyptians 
and the Chinese have no records of a universal 
The Deluge. A terrible inundation is mentioned 

Chinese n /?i • i • , i ,1 

record of by Chinese historians under the emperor 
inunda- JSJmn, who selects Yu, his prime minister, 
though of humble station in life, to become 
his successor in the imjDerial dignity, as a 
reward for his great ability and energy, in 
draining off, by means of canals and other 
works, the waters of the mighty rivers. 
This was about the time, when the deluge 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 77 

of the Jewish records, is said to have taken 
place. The Chinese carry their annals as far 
back as 3,000 years before the Christian era, 
and reward the regulator of the so-called 
universal deluge for his engineering talents 
with the imperial throne. In Egypt the 
Pyramids were constructed long ere Noah 
was born ; and the alluvial soil of the Nile- 
valley shows in its layers an undisturbed 
growth of the delta of not less, than 36,000 
years. This incident is mentioned, to warn 
historians from treating impossible natural 
phenomena as facts. Whenever great cata- 
clysms are described, the records of other 
nations must be carefully compared, and 
their evidence weighed from a scientific 
point of view, and not in a spirit of religious 
credulity. 

The Greeks learned very early to look How the 
upon the Deluge-legend of Deukalion, as an ^ated the 
account of some terrible volcanic convulsion, Deiuge- 
which submerged one part of Greece, de- myt ' 
stroyed another by fire, and was the cause of 
the formation of those numerous sporadic 
islands, that surround the Peloponnesus, 
which probably received at that period its 
vine-leaf, or palm-leaf shape. After the 
deluge was over, and Deukalion landed on 
Mount Parnassus or Othrys, Zeus is said to 
have sent Hermes to him, " promising to 
grant whatever he asked." He prayed that 
men and companions might be sent to him 
in his solitude. Accordingly, Zeus directed 
him and Pyrrha, (meaning fire), his wife to 



78 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

cast stones over their heads. Those cast by 
Pyrrha became women, those by Deukali6n 
Aristotle men. Aristotle does not dispute the fact of 
Deluge. a deluge having occurred, but he places it 
west of Mount Pindus, near Ddddna, and 
treats it as a physical phenomenon ; the result 
of periodical cycles in the atmosphere, and 
divests the calamity of all religious character, 
to the honour of intellect, and the supreme 
source of reason. For to assume any Deity 
creating men, allowing them for thousands 
of years to go from bad to worse, and 
in a fit of rage swearing, to destroy the 
whole human race, with the exception of 
a few individuals, then repenting of such 
an oath, was repugnant to every right- 
minded and thinking Greek, more than 
2,000 years ago, and ought to be so to 
every reasoning human being. Yet there 
are, even so-called educated, public teachers, 
who repeat such myths, told in so out- 
rageous a sense, as real and true facts. But 
it has been the privilege of priests and their 
followers of all ages and denominations, all 
over the world, to calumniate the bene- 
volent first cause of all things, as no heretic, 
infidel, pagan, or atheist has ever dared 
to do. 
Myths and The more we advance in Greek history, 
wftiTan the more the mythic element vanishes into 
undercur- the dim past, and the more prominently his- 
historicai torical reality stands out, 
facts. After the Deluge we have the Phoenicians 

mentioned, as peoplingt Salamis, (meaning 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 79 

the island of peace), and introducing the 
worship of Aphrodite, the sea-born goddess 
of love. The Htrakleids, driven from Asia 
Minor, settled on the promontory, opposite 
Salamis, and are credited with having 
established the worship of Poseidon; whilst 
ThraJcians spread in the north of the Penin- 
sula, and offered their sacrifices exceptionally 
to Artemis or Diana, the goddess of woods and 
the chase. These migrations of Phoenicians, 
Herakleids (Asiatics), and Thrakians, with 
their special divinities, afford us an insight 
into the different nationalities and social 
conditions of the first settlers in Greece. 
Those who worshipped Artemis (Diana) The 
were still wild and nomadic hunters ; those Jwods °& 
who erected altars to Poseiddn (the god criterion of 
of the sea) or Aphrodite, were seafaring pf^vm? 6 
traders, and those who sent up their z ation. 
prayers to Demeter (mother earth), or 
Pallas Athene (the goddess of wisdom, 
who first taught mankind to manage the 
horse, to build chariots and ships, and in- 
vented the war-trumpet and flute), were 
settled and more refined agriculturists. 
This higher condition of civilization we 
encounter on the Eastern shores of Greece, 
in Attica, where Kr&tans, Ionians, and 
Lykians, &c, were settled, under their 
leader Kekrops, who divided the surround- 
ing territory into twelve towns or boroughs, 
and provided each with a townhouse, a 
common altar, and a free political organi- 
zation. To bring unity and order into these 



80 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



free and independent u Polies " or boroughs, 
it was thought necessary, to endow one with 
Kekrops a kind f supremacy. This was Kekropia 
Kekropia, (later Athens). The town was situated in 
Attn e charming valley, watered by the river 

Kephisos ; on the north rose the Pentelic 
mountains, with their opposite slopes, lead- 
ing into the Euboean Sea; on the east the 
valley was bordered by the Hymettos, rich 
in healing herbs ; on the west ran the lower 
mountain range of Aigeleos, forming the 
boundaries towards Eleusis ; and on the south 
mountains with narrow passes, that might 
easily be defended, stretched gently sloping 
into the sea. The winter's cold was tempered 
by a genial warmth, and the summer's heat 
by cooling breezes. Here was the brightest 
region of Greek culture and civilization; it 
became by degrees the centre-point, towards 
which all the various States of Greece gravi- 
tated, during the most glorious period of 
their history. The myth tells us that 
Kekrops, who had serpent-legs, came from 
Egypt, and founded the town with priest- 
esses from Dodona, introducing the worship 
of the gods. The fortress, the city or cita- 
del, Kekropia, the Akropolis of Athens, was 
situated on one of the heights, detached 
from the Hymettos mountain range, acces- 
sible only from the west. The steep per- 
pendicular rock was crowned by a plateau 
of sufficient extent to hold a sanctuary to 
the gods, and a dwelling-place and treasure- 
house for the ruler. 



Situation 
of the 
Akropolis. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 81 

First Zeus was said to have been worshipped ^je 
as the protector of the town. Dipatyros or Zeus. 
Jupiter was assumed, as the father of all 
living creatures, to have succeeded in inducing 
the dispersed people to adopt a more regulated 
condition; and to establish, on the oldest family 
principles, the organization of boroughs and 
towns. 

Next we have the worship of Poseidon The 
recorded, which marks a second higher phase PosefdL?* 
in the progress of civilization, through com- 
mercial connections with the surrounding 
islands, and the shores of Ionia or Asia Minor 
and its numerous cities. A struggle between 
Poseidon and Athene" is mentioned, proving a 
still higher culture and commercial progress. 
The goddess of wisdom thrust her spear into 
the ground, changed it into a blooming olive 
tree, and became from that moment the 
universally acknowledged guardian- deity of The 
Athens, with a splendid temple dedicated to PaiTas- P 
her on the Akropolis. The introduction of Athene. 
her worship marked the period of a high 
political development of the town, which 
was greatly furthered by Erechtheus ; Ion 
added to the worship of Minerva (Pallas 
Athene) that of Apollo, with whose worship The 
a new life was brought into the intellectual Jp^ ip ot 
and moral progress of Greece. Roads were 
constructed, the towns provided with 
protecting walls ; song and music were gene- 
rally cultivated ; sacred and profane matters 
separated, the inordinate influence of the 
priests was shaken, sanguinary sacrifices 

G 



82 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

ceased. Even the darkest crimes might be 
atoned for through repentance, under the pro- 
tection of the " laurel-crowned god" who 
restored peace even to the blood-stained soul 
of Orestes. The gloomy power of the ter- 
rifying Furies was broken, and a world of 
higher harmony, an empire of mercy estab- 
lished. The temples of Apollo surrounded 
the Greek continent as so many shrinks of 
the highest possible culture, beauty, and 
Different l ove< ]3 u t the very worship of Apollo had its 
the progressive development. The higher con- 

IpoHo P of ception of the god of light, the son of night, 
the enemy of all that is impure and evil, grew 
slowly and by degrees. With the Kypriotes 
and the Magnetes he was at first nothing but 
the real sun ; as such he was worshipped on 
mountain-tops and in dark groves. Apollo 
was then the mere giver of real light and 
heat, not in a spiritualized (abstract), but 
only in a realistic (concrete) sense. In Del- 
phinios he was the sun rising from the sea, 
ruling the waves in spring, opening naviga- 
tion, protecting men against the wild 
resentments of his rival god, Poseid6n. 
He was no more the real sun, but the 
leader of ships and the guardian of com- 
merce. Finally Apollo took up his abode at 
Delphi, where he was enthroned as the 
Pythian god of light and intellect, of arts 
and sciences 

In the Kr£tan, Th^ban, and Argonautic 
K h ?t legends we may study the historical life of the 
Thebaii', Greeks as it developed on the sea ; for water 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 83 

was the real stage on which the Greeks first a A nd 

-i.-i.,-i,i.-i . ... r»i» i Argonautie 

exhibited their heroic spirit of daring and legends. 
enterprise. They were isolated, courageous 
pirates. Long before they formed settled 
inland communities, they infested the sur- 
rounding Asiatic shores with their predatory 
incursions. To bring these unruly, wild, 
insulated elements into order was first at- 
tempted on the island of Krete, under King Krete 
Minos, who was said to have given laws, j^derKing 
received directly from God, not only to 
Krete, but the whole of Greece. The legend 
runs thus : Zeus brought to Krete Europa, Zeus the 
the beautiful daughter of King Agenor, in ^n68° f 
Phoenicia, and had throe sons by her — Bhada- 
Minos, Ehadamanthus, and Sarpedon. Of ™ a f hus ' 
these, Minos became the ruler of Kr£te ; Sarpedon. 
Ehadamanthus installed himself as sove- 
reign and law-giver of the islands of the 
iEgean Sea ; and SarpMon was proclaimed 
King of Lykia. The whole tale points to 
immigrants from Phoenicia, who establish 
laws and a higher civilization amongst the 
barbarous islanders. 

Minos, the Kretan king, built ships of war, 
erected naval stations at Naxos and the 
Kyklades, gradually subjected the surround- 
ing islands, expelled the aboriginal Karians, 
and waged war against Nisus, king of Megara. 
He attacked the Athenians, to avenge the 
death of his son, Androgeus, who, attending The fate of 
the Panathenaic festival, vanquished all his g\* d s ™son 
competitors, was sent by the king of Athens, of King 
-^Egeus, to kill the bull of Marathon, in which Min6s ' 

G 2 



84 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

enterprise he perished. Minos conquered 
the Athenians, and exacted from them, every 
ninth year, a tribute of seven youths and 
seven maidens. Three times these sacrifices 
had been sent to be devoured by the Mino- 
taur, a monster that dwelt in the labyrinth of 
Theseus Krete ; when at last Theseus resolved to free 
Minotaur. Athens from this sanguinary tribute, or to 
die. Poseid6n, Apollo, and Aphrodite (en- 
terprise, wisdom, and love) combined to help 
him ; he arrived at Knossus, where he gained 
Ariadne in the love of Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, 
'Thlseus. wno presented him with a sword and a clue of 
thread ; he killed the Minotaur, found his way 
out of the labyrinth by means of the thread, 
eloped with Ariadne, whom he most heartlessly 
Her fate, abandoned on the island of Naxos ; stopped 
at Delos, where, amidst songs and dances, he 
sacrificed to Apollo. The dance, which he 
introduced with the seven youths and 
maidens whom he had rescued, was called 
Origin of " Geranus," as it was instituted in remem- 
reUgious brance of the labyrinth, with its mystic 
dance windings. The labyrinth, constructed in imi- 
a Gera- tation of the celebrated one at Egypt, proves 
the origin of a worship which must have 
been introduced at a very remote period into 
Krete from Egypt. There can be no doubt 
that the island of Krete was one of the oldest 
seats of Greek civilization, where, earlier than 
anywhere else, the first vigorous and inde- 
pendent communities, under the leadership 
of the most powerful, formed themselves out 
of the chaotic elements of the aborigines and 



u 

nus." 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 85 

Egyptian, Phoenician, and Asiatic immi- 
grants. 

The Argonautic Expedition has for the The Ar / 

t ■ . °/> • j ! • j c* l\ gonautic 

historian so iar an interest as it lorms tne expedition. 
first record of a common enterprise under- 
taken by several Greek chiefs. Up to a character 

.. « / . 1 . -, i • , • i i r* °* ancient 

certain period m the historical records ot records. 
humanity we find that only the deeds of 
single individuals are narrated. The king is 
all in all ; he only acts, wages war, concludes 
peace, builds towns. The people are not 
even occasionally mentioned, and if so, they 
are mere herds, blindly following their 
leader. In the next period we generally 
hear of the wanderings of tribes and nations 
under mighty commanders, displacing one 
another, and replacing aborigines. The 
higher tribal element steps into its rights. 
A third period is reached, in which either 
single large states, or several smaller states 
in combination, are described as acting for 
some common purpose. Such records gain 
in value, when the common action has some 
higher and disinterested aim. 

Jason, an eminent hero, is said to have Jason, the 
started in a ship called "Arg6," (from which {heArg°o- 
the whole enterprise, received its name,) with nautic ex- 
fifty noble youths of Greece, in quest fP eil0U 
the golden fleece. Amongst his followers 
were Herakles, Theseus, Kastor, and Pollux, 
Z£tes and Kala'is (the winged sons of Boreas, 
the north wind), Meleager, &c, all mythical 
characters. There was Typhys, as steers- 
man ; Idmon and Mopsus were the prophets ; 



86 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

while Orpheus came to amuse their weari- 
ness, and reconcile their quarrels, with his 
Lemnos at ^J Te - They landed first on the island of 
Lemnos, where they found no male beings, 
as the women, maddened by jealousy and 
suffering, had killed them all. The Argo- 
nauts were received with great friendliness, 
and the subsequent population is ascribed to 
the intercourse of these daring heroes with 
the charming inhabitants. The myth, in its 
probable historical element, is but an account 
of the occupation of the island by the 
Greeks. Myths of this kind have always 
some reality for their basis, and historians 
are permitted to exercise their critical in- 
genuity, and to trace the possible or probable 
facts, hidden in such accounts. 
The Ar- From Lemnos the Argonauts proceed along 
pa^the * ne coas ^ °f Thrace, up the Hellespont, to 
coast of the southern coast of Propontis ; they have 
to pass rocks that shut and open ; allegori- 
cally meaning some dangerous straits ; for it 
is stated that after the Argonauts cut through 
them, the rocks were fixed for ever by the 
gods, and ships could in future sail to and 
They fro. At last they reach Kolchis, and demand 
Koichis. ^ ne golden fleece, guarded by a terrible 
dragon. Medea, the king's daughter, falls in 
love with Jas6n, helps him to kill the 
dragon, and to obtain the coveted prize of 
the golden fleece. Jason escapes with all his 
companions, protected by Medea, whom he 
carries away as his bride. On their return, the 
Argonauts are driven into the ocean, which 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 87 

flows round the earth, till they come to T . he ? 
tne JNile, m Jigypt, carrying the Argo navigate 
on their shoulders overland into the lake J^own 11 
Tritonis, in Lybia, whence they again en- earth. 
ter the Mediterranean, and stop at Korkyra, 
where the cave, in which Medea and Jason 
were married, was still shown in the times 
of the historian Timseus, 1,679 years ago. 
The phosphorescence of the sea is referred to 
in the account of a miracle that occurred 
when they were overtaken by a terrible 
storm at night near Thera, and Apollo shot 
from his golden bow an arrow that pierced 
the waves like a track of light. From Krete 
they go to .ZEgina, and passing along the 
coast of Eubcea and Lokris, arrive at Kol- 
chis, from whence they started. The whole 
myth thus resolves itself into a narrative of 
a voyage round the then known world, in 
which the fabulous plays a considerable 
part. To look for, or to identify the different How to 
towns, islands, and nationalities mentioned in treat such 
these myths, would be mere waste of time, 
though many ancient and modern writers 
have endeavoured to trace all these places. 
Strabo, one of the most reliable Greek geo- The Greek 
graphers, born at Amasea, in Kappadokia geographer 
(about sixty years before the Christian era), 
was confident that he had discovered the his- 
torical facts of the Argonautic expedition. 
The golden fleece was typical of the great 
wealth of Kolchis, and the voyage of Jason 
was a successful military and commercial 
conquest over vast territories, not less in 



Theban 
legend 



88 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

extent than those which, long before, 
Dionysus and Herakles had subdued, and 
which, at a later historical period, Alexander 
the Great, in imitation of these and similar 
exploits, recorded also of Nimrod, Semiramis, 
Perseus, &c, had traversed. The different 
accounts served to inspire each of these heroes 
to outdo, in the extent of their conquests, 
their mythical or historical predecessors. 

The We must next mention the Boeotians, with 

their capital, Thebes, of which Kadmus, a 
Phoenician, is stated to have been the 
founder (1490 B.C.). Dionysus and Herakles 
were both said to have been natives of Thebes. 
Homer and others assert that Amphion 
and Zethus were the first builders of that 
celebrated town. Some scholiasts, or com- 
mentators, to explain these discrepancies, 
assumed an older Thebes, which was 

Kadmus, invaded, destroyed, and rebuilt by Kadmus. 

Amphion, Apollodorus, and other more reliable logo- 

Zethus. graphers (writers of legends) and mytho- 
graphers (writers of myths), insist on the 
assertion that Kadmus, after having travelled 
through Egypt, Lybia, Phoenicia, and 
Thrakia, went to Delphi, to receive some in- 
formation about his abducted sister, Europa 
(see above), and was ordered by the divine 
oracle to desist from any further search, but 
to follow a cow which he would meet, and to 
build a city on the spot where the animal 
should lie down. He did this, and built 
Thebes on the very spot which the cow 
indicated. He was the first to introduce 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 89 

the art of writing, by teaching his people the 
sixteen letters of the Phoenician alphabet. 
We may see in this myth an attempt to de- 
scribe the transition from a nomadic and 
pastoral state into an agricultural town- 
settlement. The myth tells us further, The 
that, near the. spot where Kadmus built ^* am 
Thebes, was the fountain Areia, guarded by guarded 
a dragon which he had first to kill, ere he ^ a * 
could settle down. Translated into a his- 
torical probability, this account means, that 
the immigrants had to clear the ground from 
wild animals and ferocious aborigines. For 
it is further stated that, after having killed 
the dragon, Kadmus sowed its teeth, from 
which armed men sprang up, called Sparti, 
who killed each other. Five only survived, 
from whom the most influential families of 
Thebes were said to have been descended. 

Kadmus, when old, installed Pentheus, a Pentheus, 
descendant of one of these five survivors, as ceL^of 
his successor. During his reign, Dionysus, Kadmus. 
the god of wine, at the head of an excited 
troop of females, having wandered over India, 
Asia, and Thrace, everywhere introducing the 
Bacchic mysteries, settled at Thebes. Pen- 
theus opposed the frantic and licentious 
worship of the god. He followed Agave, his 
mother, and her sisters to Mount Kithoeron, 
where they intended to perform the secret 
rites in honour of Bacchus ; he was recognized 
watching them, and torn to pieces by the 
religiously demented women ; his mother ^ ible 
carrying her own slaughtered son's head back fate. 



90 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

to the town. When the aged Kadmus, and his 
wife Harmonia, saw the terrible deed of fana- 
tic superstition, they retired amongst the Illy- 
rians, and died broken hearted. The myth, 
however, states, in an allegorical strain, that 
they were changed into serpents, and trans- 
ferred to the Elysian fields of eternal peace. 
The legend I n connection with the foundation of 
Lyku^and Thebes we have another legend, that of 
Dirke. King Lykus and his wife Dirk£, who most 
Antiope, cruelly treated Antiope, daughter of King 
two sons. Nykteus, of Thebes, celebrated for her 
beauty, and mother of Amphion and Zethus. 
Enraged at this, her two sons murdered the 
king, and tied Dirk£ to the horns of a bull, 
and had her dragged to death. The myth 
appears to have been written to forcibly 
impress sons with their filial duties towards 
their defenceless mothers. Euripides drama- 
tized the event in one of his best, but 
Character unhappily lost, tragedies. Amphion is de- 
Amphion. scribed as dreamy, musical, refined, and a 
great artist, who moved the very stones to 
such obedience with his lyre, that they 
arranged themselves into order, forming a 
strong wall round Thebes. The historian 
can but read in this myth an allegorical 
statement with regard to the civilizing 
influence of music, and the necessity of 
following a kind of harmonious order in 
architecture if we intend to construct regular 
Character walls. Zethus, on the contrary, was sketched 
of Zethus. ag ^ e re p resen tative of wild and indomitable 
brute force — a striking contrast to his brother; 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 91 

yet both were united in one uncontrollable 
feeling — love for their injured and suffering 
mother. 

Amphion and Zethus were succeeded on the 
throne of Thebes by La'ius, with whom begins ^™« , 
the harrowing tale of (Edipus, his son, of (Edipus, 
whom the oracle predicted, that " he would Msson - 
kill his father, and marry his own mother." 
In consequence of this prophecy, (Edipus was Theconse- 
barbarously exposed on Mount Kithoeron. ^ nces ° f 
Found by shepherds, he was brought to the prophecy 
King of Korinthum, who adopted him as his (Edipus. 
son, and had him educated. When grown up, 
he was anxious to know his destiny. He went 
to consult the oracle, who repeated to him the 
same prophecy. Horrified at his future, and 
believing Korinthum to be the place, where 
he would be obliged to commit the fearful 
crimes, GEdipus fled to Bceotia, where he 
met, in directing his steps towards Thebes, 
an old quarrelsome man, whom he killed in 
a fit of passion. This man was his father, 
King Laius. The neighbourhood of Thebes The _ 
was at that time infested by a Sphinx, with a s^hiix 
woman's face, the wings of a bird, and the ?£ar 
body of a lion. The Sphinx gave riddles to 
solve to those who passed by, and devoured 
everyone who did not succeed in guessing 
the mystic meaning of the questions. When 
(Edipus passed by, the Sphinx asked, " What 
is that that creeps in the morning on four, at 
noon on two, and in the evening on three 
legs?" "Man" was the correct answer of 
(Edipus. The Sphinx disappeared, and 



9*2 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOKY. 

ceased to terrify the neighbourhood of 
Meaning Thebes. Read by the light of common 
Sphinx, sense, the Sphinx stands for the monster of 
superstition and prejudice, which vanishes 
as soon as man touches it with his reason- 
ing power. Phantoms, ghosts, monsters, 
sphinxes, and miracles can only so long 
devour us, till we take the trouble to inquire 
into their reality by means of our intellect. 
The myth of CEdipus, shrouded in horror and 
incredibilities, yet embodies one of the deep- 
est lessons, which every historian ought to 
take to heart. The historian must continually 
try to unravel the Sphinx of the past, solve the 
riddles of ignorant writers, dispel the false- 
hoods of credulous witnesses, the concoctions 
of biassed chroniclers, and can never be too 
careful in the use of the sifting and critical 
powers of reason. 

For having freed Thebes from the cruel 
freed mg Sphinx, CEdipus was proclaimed king, and 
Thebes, he married Jokaste, the queen, his mother, ful- 
ling, filling the prophecy. Though his crimes 
were predestined, and committed in utter 
ignorance, they were visited on him and his 
children. The superstitious belief of the 
father in oracles and prophecies drove the 
son from his home. The son, fostered in 
similar superstitions, had recourse to an 
oracle, believed in its warning voice, and 
committed the very crimes which he wished 
to avoid. 
be°iearn d ^ ie tragic fate of CEdipus, who, in learn- 
from the ing what crimes he had committed, deprived 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 93 

himself of his eyesight ; the restless despair myth con- 
and penitence of the wandering old man ; the Spul 
love of his two daughters, who do not for- 
sake their broken-hearted father, formed the 
topic of many a tragedy. The myth served 
to purify the mind of the people, and created 
in them a beneficial horror of crimes, perpe- 
trated even in ignorance, and impressed them 
with the truth, that the eternal law of causa- 
tion must have its course. What tragedians 
call fate, priests name providence, and com- 
mon people chance, is but the natural sequence 
of the disturbed state of man's moral and 
intellectual forces. 

With these sketches we conclude the pre- End of the 
Homeric period of Greek legendary life. It J^ric " 
was the good fortune of the people, that period of 
they never had a special priest-caste, like legends - 
the Indians, Egyptians, Jews, and Persians, 
arrogating to itself all knowledge, human and 
divine. The Greeks very early enjoyed 
freedom in thoughts, and therefore freedom 
of action, and occupied themselves with 
writing down in a poetical form the deeds of 
those whom they considered the founders of 
their different states, and the first heroes of 
their historical childhood. 

Greek history, like that of all other people, Greek 
was in the beginning exclusively mythical the * 7 at 
biography, legendary genealogy \ and arbitrary beginning. 
chronology. Every hero had a god for his 
father or mother. Miraculous incidents 
abounded, and even the probable was mixed 
with the fabulous. The language used in 



94 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

these histories was the rhythmical language 
of fiction, poetry being preferred, as a means 
to record isolated as well as more compli- 
Lyrics and cated events. These lyric or epic effusions 
Epics. anc [ historical records were, from time im- 
memorial sung or publicly recited, for the 
edification of kings, leaders, heroes, and 
often also for the instruction of the people. 
Not only water and earth, but also music 
and poetry were the elements from which 
Greek life originated. On Mount Olympus 
resounded the first hymns of the Greeks, 
sung by bards, who at the same time were 
the teachers, historians, philosophers, and 
physicians of the people. 
Necessity We possess a whole list of pre- Homeric 
in S wi!atis ty™? didactic, and epic poets, of whom we 
recorded of will enumerate the most important. The 
poets nt student of History must not ignore, but 
ought to study them, as the very works 
attributed to them afford us a deep insight 
into the primitive social organization of the 
Greeks, as the fundamental elements of their 
further historical development. 

The most important pre-Homeric bards, 
poets, and singers, were: — 
Linus. 1. Linus, said to have been the brother or 

teacher of Orpheus ; he was also set down as 
the teacher of Herakles, by whom he was 
killed with the lyre or kythara. An account 
of the origin of the world was attributed to 
him, as also poems, recording the movements 
of the stars, the mystic phases of the moon, 
and a description of the wanderings and 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 95 

adventures of Dionysus. To fix the real 
existence of this poet is quite impossible, as 
there were several bards of that name at 
different periods. 

2. Orpheus, born in Thrakia, the son of Orpheus. 
(Eagrus and the muse Kalliope (the genius 
of poetry and science), lived about 1,250 years 
before the Christian era. He travelled in 
Egypt, was initiated into the mysteries of 
Osiris, Isis, and Horus ; came back to 
Bceotia, led a virtuous life, and tried to 
promote the civilization of his countrymen 
through songs and poetical recitations. He 
taught higher religious tenets by purifying 
the ancient creeds from superstition and 
cruel prejudices; he was well versed in 
medicine, was believed to have resuscitated 
many dead persons, and descended into 
Tartarus (the abode of the dead), whence he 
returned, leading many, who had long passed 
away, to a new and happy earthly life. 
Orpheus took part in the Argonautic expedi- 
tion, returned home, and was torn to pieces 
by Thrakian women. 

There are several works extant under his The 
name, but how far they were written by ^jf 
himself, or by Onomakritos, or the Pytha- attributed 
g orseans, Kerkops and Brotinos, it would be t0 m ' 
impossible to state. 

The most important works attributed to 
Orpheus are : — 

{a.) Argonautica, originally written in the («■) ^go- 
Doric dialect, but as the poem is clearly 
an imitation of Homer's Iliad, it is falsely 



nautica. 



96 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Hymns. 



(c.) Lithi- 
ca. 



(d.) Frag- 
ments. 



German 
writers on 
Orpheus 
and his 
mysteries. 



Olen. 



attributed to Orpheus. The account of the 
expedition is dry and tedious, taken down 
from some oral tradition. 

(b.) Hymns, about 85 in number ; they 
betray, in spite of their mystic contents, 
Pythagorsean, and even Stoic principles, and 
cannot possibly be genuine. 

(c.) Lithica, a philosophical poem in 768 
verses, on the secret and magic powers of 
precious, and other stones. The poem, though 
attributed to Orpheus, is not older than the 
fourth century after Christ. 

(d.) Fragments, published under his name, 
betraying a state of society entirely differing 
from that of the times of Orpheus, and there- 
fore undoubtedly apocryphal. 

The most reliable works on Orpheus, his 
times and mysteries, are nearly all written 
by Germans, either in Latin or German. 
Those in Latin are by Buddeus, Brucker, 
Beck, and Hermann ; those in German by 
Herder, Tennemann, and Bottiger. 

3. Olen, from Lykia, settled on the island 
of Delos, sang an account of the origin of 
religion. He was considered to have lived 
long before Orpheus, to have been a Hyper- 
borean, and the first priest consecrated to 
Phoebus Apollo — the sun-god. Herodotus 
mentions Olen (iv. 35,) as a Lykian, who 
composed a song in honour of two Hyper- 
borean virgins, Ojois and Arge, who came to 
Delos with the gods, and introduced the 
different modes of worship in honour of them. 
Olen was also credited with the composition 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 97 

of several ancient hymns which were in use 
for religious purposes at Delos. (See Bern- 
hardy, u Memoires de FAcademie des Inscrip- 
tions, vol. iv.) 

4. Pamphus gave the Athenians some sacri- pamphus. 
ficial hymns of rather doubtful taste, accord- 
ing to the specimens given by Philostratus 
Flavius, the elder, a celebrated orator, who 
lived in the second century after Christ, and 
published a work under the title, " Heroika," 

a record of the Troj an war. (The i i Heroika " 
were published at Paris by Boissonade, 1806.) 

5. Eumolpus, from Thrakia, of divine Eumoipus. 
origin, a son of Neptune and Cheone", lived 

at Eleusis, and instituted the. Eleusian 
mysteries in Attika. His person is mythic, 
and his writings and institutions full of alle- 
gorical and symbolic mysticism, bearing on 
them the stamp of plagiarism from Egyptian 
and Indian older customs. We may assume 
one celebrated Eumolpus, of whom little or 
nothing is known, and several other writers 
who arrogated to themselves his name, a 
custom very prevalent in the East. (See 
Bernhardy, " Memoires de FAcademie des 
Inscriptions," vol. vi.) 

6. Amphion, the son of Zeus and Antiope ; Amphion. 
he was king of Thebes, and husband of 
Niobe, a daughter of Tantalus. Amphion 
received his lyre directly from Apollo or 
Hermes, and lived, according to some, at the 
times of Kadmus. Clement of Alexandria 
treats him as fabulous, whilst Apollodorus 
gives him credit for having introduced music. 

H 



98 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

(See " Memoires de l'Academie," vols, ii., 
vii., xi., xiii., and xiv.) 

Phiiam- 7. Philammon, also of divine origin, the 

mon - son of Apollo and Cheon§, according to Ovid, 
whilst Homer mentions Philonis as his 
mother. He sang the Origin of Latona 
(night), Apollo (light), and Artemis (chas- 
tity), and instituted at Delphi the chorus of 
virgins, singing hymns in honour of Apollo. 
According to some writers he took part in the 
Argonautic expedition instead of Orpheus. 
(See Bernhardy and Burette, " Memoires de 
1'Academie," vols. xiii. and xiv.) 

Tamyris. 8. Tamyris, a son of Philammon, dared 
to vie with the Muses, but was conquered, 
blinded, and deprived of his poetical faculty. 
A spirited description of the struggle of the 
gods with the Titans was ascribed to him. 
Pliny tells us that he was the first who 
played the kythara by itself in a masterly 
way, and did not use it as a mere accompani- 
ment of a song or recitation. 

Piems. 9. Pierus. Cicero mentioned him as the 

poet who gave the Muses their names, and 
sang their praises. We may point. out that, 
according to this record, Pierus appears to 
have been the first to classify the sciences 
and arts of the Greeks and to divide them 
into distinct categories. He mentions Muses 
of history, comedy, tragedy, astronomy, 
music, lyrics, epics, &c, which goes far to 
prove the advanced state of intellectual life 
amongst the Greeks, even in pre-Homeric 
times. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 99 

10. Anthes is mentioned by Pausanias as a Anthes. 
son of Neptune and Alkyone\ Many spirited 
hymns were attributed to him. (On the 

last three poets, see Burette, in " Memoires 
de l'Academie," vols. xi. and xiv.) 

11. Mklampus, the celebrated wizard, pro- Meiampue. 
phet, and miracle- worker, was said to have 
understood the language of all animals, 
which meant, probably, that he was a great 
naturalist, studying the habits and nature 

of animals. The introduction of the wor- 
ship of Dionysus from Egypt into Greece 
was ascribed to him. He wrote also mournful 
hymns in commemoration of Persephone (the 
goddess of vegetation), which confirms the 
statement that he was a zoologist as well as 
a botanist. 

12. Phemius, according to Herodotus, mar- Phemius. 
ried Kritlieis, the mother of Homer, and 
adopted the poet as his own son. He settled 

in lthaka, and amused the suitors of Penelope 
with his songs, and his playing on the 
kythara. To him is ascribed a poem record- 
ing the return of the Greeks, under Aga- 
memnon, after the destruction of Trov. 

13. Demodokus, from Korkyra, the bard Demodo- 
of king Alkinous, was blind. He sang of the 
destruction of Troy to Odysseus, and wrote 

a poem describing the marriage of Hephaestus 
and Aphrodite (the god of fire with the 
goddess of love). (See Homer in the 
Odyssee, and Suidas, an important histori- Suidas. 
cal writer of the eleventh century after 
Christ, who, though too often imaginative, is 

h2 



100 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

full of curious information which is not to 
be found in other books. The works of 
Suidas were published by Gaisford, London, 
1834. Suidas asserts that Demodokus was 
the first Greek poet who left his works in 
writing. ) 

Musams. 14. Musjeus, according to Diodorus Siculus, 
was a son of Orpheus. Of this name there 
were, however, two poets, and even the 
ancients could not distinguish them, and con- 
tinually confounded the one of E leu sis with 
the Musseus of Athens. They left many works, 
and either one or the other is said to have 
been largely used by Homer in his poems, 
though we can find no proof for this asser- 
tion. Musseus is described as a mystic 
and very learned thinker, w T ho endeavoured 
to unite poetry with philosophy, and was 
deeply engaged in the study of the hidden 
forces of nature. A poem treatiug of the 
love-story of Hero and Leander, in 341 verses, 
is ascribed to him, but is far too refined and 
elaborate to be placed earlier than the fourth 
or fifth century after Christ; it is a rather 
overdone, yet spirited imitation, of Homer's 
style. (See Freret, in the " Memoires de 
l'Academie," vol. xxiii.) 

Palaepha- 15. Pal^ephatus, of Athens, wrote several 

tU8, poems, especially one describing the struggle 

between Poseidon and Pallas (Minerva) for 
the supremacy over Athens. (See Suidas,) 

Asbqius. 16. Asbolus, said to have been a Kentaur 
(half-horse and half man). It is recorded 
that Herakles crucified him, and pinned to 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 101 

his body an epigram, ridiculing the poor 
Kentaurs attempt at poetry. 

17. Olympus was more a musician than o'ympus. 
poet, but a funeral song of his is mentioned. 

18. Thaletas is assumed to have written Thaietas 
long before Homer. At the same time, how- 
ever, it is recorded of him that Lykurgus, 
having heard some of his songs at Krete, 

sent him to Sparta to instruct the youth, and 
influence the people with his excellent moral 
principles. 

19. Syagrus sang the Trojan war. He Syagrus. 
was a contemporary of Musseus and Orpheus, 
which is a very vague statement, as the date 

of neither is known. 

20. Palamedes was the son of the Euboean Pdia- 
Nauplias and of Klymene, daughter of King medes - 
Katreus. He perished before Troy, on the 
siege of which he wrote, but Homer, actuated 

by envy, suppressed his poems, though the 
poets of Kyprus, according to Pausanias, 
had accepted them as full of merit. (See 
Suidas.) 

21. KORINNUS, of Ilium, a pupil of Pala- Korinnus. 

medes, is said to have written an Iliad during 
the Trojan war. (See Suidas.) 

22. Pittheus, the grandfather of Theseus, pittheus. 
wrote many wise sayings and excellent pro- 
verbs much valued by the ancients, but we 
possess nothing of his, and Pausanias doubts 
whether many poems ascribed to Pittheus 
were ever written by him. 

28. Pronapides, the teacher of Homer, Pron* P i- 
was the first to write Greek from the left to des * . 



102 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

His work the right. It is recorded of him that he had 
dk>s. written a poem " On the origin of the world," 

under the title, " Protokosmos." 
Sisiphus. 24. Sisiphus, of Kos, was amanuensis to 

Teuker, who wrote an Iliad before Homer. 

(See for further and more detailed informa- 
5 T> , tion, Dr. Graesse's " Manual of General His- 
work on tory of Literature of all the Known People 
Sw f of the World ," one of the most exhaustive 

History ot i • n i i r 

Literature, works on the intellectual development of 

humanity.) 
Myths and This is a complete list of the most im- 
oation Pph " P or tant pre-Homeric writers, who formed 
the sources from which historians col- 
lected their information during the heroic 
period of Greece. These cosmogonies, myths, 
hymns, &c, are undoubtedly valuable re- 
cords of Greek customs, manners, politi- 
cal and religious laws ; the movements of 
the first settlers ; the deeds of so-called 
demigods, heroes, kings, and leaders ; the 
actions of warlike tribes ; the Argonautic 
Expedition, that of the Seven before Thebes; 
the mythic origin of the Kretans under 
Minos, and so on. These poetical records 
with very few fragmentary exceptions, are 
all lost ; but in those which remain, the 
dry historical facts which imagination used 
for its complex visions are perceptible, and, 
however much they may be wrapped up in 
We may the miraculous and mythical, we must en- 
historical deavour, as far as possible, to reconstruct this 
facts by chaotic period of Greek historv in reading 

means of . ■, -, x n -• v TT . -, 

analogies, them by means ot analogies. We may thus 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 103 

discover in pre-Homeric times an era of 
ethnical, lingual, religious, moral, and politi- 
cal fermentation, in which nothing was yet 
firmly settled, but in which the active pro- 
cess of the isolated and detached compon- 
ent elements, growing into a self-conscious 
national State-body, can be distinctly traced. 
" For, beyond all other nations, the Greeks 
attained their form by growth." The first 
m> thic and pre-Homeric phase of Greek 
culture is the subjugation of the inherent The sub- 
tribal and individual distinctness of charac- afferent 
ters, which was accomplished in a free and national- 
independent spirit. No historian can have 
even a dim conception of the development of 
a nation, who discards the component parts 
of aboriginal and foreign elements in the slow 
and gradual formation of a people. Every 
nation that has played an influential role in 
the history of the world, has had its origin in 
the most heterogeneous stocks. This hetero- 
geneity, changing by the efforts of the dif- 
ferent particles into homogeneity, was the 
principal characteristic of the pre-Homeric 
age. This period was a transition from the 
half-conscious dawn of national life into the 
broad davli^ht of self-conscious historical 
reality. This reality of Greek history 
began with the siege and conquest of Troy, 
about 119;3~1183 B.C. 

A spirited description of this historical The siege 
incident has been left to us by an epic 
poet, the immortal Homer, whose fidelity 
has been often doubted, but whose poems 



104 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

are more reliable, being based on facts, than 
many a history written in dry prose. The 
principal charm of his works lies in the true 
realism that pervades them. All arts, even the 
plastic ones, all religious, moral, social, and 
political customs of the Greeks may be seen 
reflected in Homer's two historical master- 
pieces of epic poetry. For more than 2,700 
years (assuming Homer to have lived 900 
years before the Christian era) the " Iliad" 
The and the "Odyssee" have formed a living 

" Ilia , d " stream of mythic and heroic tradition, which 

and the i -i -i • , ■ • n • ,i -i , 

"Odyssee" held its vivifying course through ancient 
times, and still flows through all the regions 
of the West as the very source of our classical 
education and all our higher intellectual 
culture. Every historian must be, to a certain 
degree, an epic poet ; but with this distinction, 
Epic poets that to the poet a greater freedom of subjective 
5?. d . . imagination is permitted, whilst the historian 

Historians. s> . Jtr ■ ? . 

has to trace his well authenticated facts with 
objective fidelity. Both, however, have to 
look upon the deeds of men with a universal 
glance of unbounded and impartial love, "for 
there can be no comprehensive culture of the 
human mind, no high and harmonious de- 
velopment of its powers, and the various 
faculties of the intellect, unless all those deep 
feelings of life, that mighty productive energy 
of human nature, the marvellous imagination, 
be awakened and excited, and by that excite- 
ment and exertion attain an expansive, noble, 
and beautiful form." (See Frederic SchlegeFs 
" History of Philosophy," translated into 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 105 

English by James Burton Robertson, London, 
1846.) 

The principal merit of the Homeric poems T} ? e 

j i i • ' j r j i • • principal 

is that, m spite ot some supernatural mci- merit of 
dents, which strike us at once as poetical Homer ' s 

n . . t , • , • • ■ i • 'n poems. 

fancies, a wise distinction is maintained 
between inordinate Oriental fictions, and 
the purer creations of a reasoning and well- 
balanced mind. Homer excels in all those 
grand qualities which ought to distinguish 
a poet and a historian. He is clear in his 
views of the causes of man's actions ; he is 
a keen observer of human passions ; he bases 
the relations of society on man's exalted 
moral feelings with an intuitive perception 
of his real nature. This is the reason why 
Homer's poetry may be looked* upon as a 
text-book of truth and honesty for humanity, 
without dividing it into quarrelling, hating, 
and persecuting sects. 

The Iliad is a prophetic mirror in which T ^ e 
the later history of Greece was reflected long prophetic 
before it ever was enacted. Hellas, having ™ irr ° r of 
attained self-consciousness through freedom, history. 
prepared to enter into a struggle with her 
Oriental tyrannical rival. At the beginning 
the independent heroes dissent, quarrel, ex- 
change angry words, threaten to leave the 
common cause, till they discover that union union is 
alone is strength, and that right and truth strength. 
ought to stand above individual fancies and 
animosities. Thus they mastered Troy, and 
thus they conquered the East. The union, 
cemented amongst the single leaders before 



106 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Through 
Homer we 
may learn 
the 

customs 
and 

manners 
of the 
Greeks. 



The 

historical 
hasisof the 
Siege of 
Troy. 



Causes of 
the war. 



the walls of Troy by their anger against 
the common foe, was extended at a later 
period to the separated states which com- 
bined in common hatred against the Oriental 
spirit of autocratic despotism. 

Homer does not restrict himself to describe 
in his poems merely the deeds of mighty 
heroes ; he enters, at the same time, into a 
detailed treatment of the customs and man- 
ners, not only of single individuals, but of 
whole communities. The social and political 
life of the Greeks, their mode of living, 
eating, drinking, talking, playing, praying, 
cursing, sacrificing, sporting, fighting, loving, 
and hating, is so impressively given that we 
see the noble figures of all the actors before us 
in spirit and body. The masses of the people 
are not yet self-conscious agents, but they must 
have possessed a high degree of civilization to 
have interested themselves in the honourable 
deeds of their leaders, and to have followed 
them blindly, because they could trust them, 
on the path of rectitude, valour, and honesty. 

The strict histoiical basis of the account 
of the Siege and destruction of Troy can no 
longer be doubted. Whatever post-Homeric 
poets may have added, omitted, or changed 
in the two poems, the principal fact of a 
wealthy Ilium or Troy having existed, and 
having perished through the combined efforts 
of Greek heroes, and their followers, is the 
common property of poetry and history. 

Paris, the son of Priam, king of Troy, 
was, like the sons of so many other kings, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 107 

lawgivers, prophets, and miraculous persons, Paris 
expose I, in this special case, on Mount Ida, ex P osed - 
because his mother Hekabe" dreamt before 
his birth that she would be delivered of a 
firebrand, and the soothsayers prophesied 
that he would cause endless misery to his 
father. He was brought up by shepherds, 
and when a youth was met by the three god- 
desses of matrimony, wisdom, and love, that 
he might judge, which of them was the most 
beautiful. He gave the prize, in the shape The 
of an apple, to the goddess of " love," and, SpS* 
as a reward, the divinity promised him the 
possession of the beautiful Helen, wife of Mene- 
laus, king of Sparta. At the very beginning 
of the historical record we are taught to appre- 
ciate the eternal laws of morals, winch not 
even a Deity can violate, without causing the 
most terrible social and political convulsions. 

The catastrophe, ending in the destruction A Deity 
of Troy, was brought about by a goddess Jj 6 ^* 1156 
through illicit love. Paris set out on his catastro- 
criminal undertaking. He arrived at Sparta, p e * 
was hospitably received by the king, and re- . 
paid his kindness by absconding with Helen, Sparta. 
the wife of his host, and a great part of his 
treasure. To a criminal passion, ingratitude 
and sordid theft were added. A monstrous 
crime was committed by a prince of royal 
descent, and the wrong done to one of the 
community was suddenly felt as an outrage 
on the whole nation. This sentiment was 
the very beginning of political freedom and 
historical self-conscious vitality. 



108 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

The Siege For ten years the Greeks prepared for this 
roy " national expedition; and for ten more they sac- 
rificed the peace, comfort, wealth, and blood 
of the people, and their very best heroes, 
not to revenge themselves, but to see justice 
done, with the help of the gods, and if 
destined otherwise, even against the gods. 
For it was quite natural that Aphrodite, the 
goddess who induced Paris to commit his 
crimes, should protect her faithful votary. 
At first, the Greeks were not victorious ; 
they were repulsed, and learned to respect 
their enemies, and in them all those humane 
qualities in which they themselves strove to 
excel. Men in the Iliad fought with men 
The moral for a higher moral purpose, and not to fulfil 
the P ° "the commands of <an invisible, wrathful 
struggle on D e itv, who orders often the slaughter of men, 
' women, and children, for mere slaughter's 
sake. The Greeks sought justice; and the 
Trojans had to defend their sacred homes 
and the altars of their gods, which they had 
in common with the Greeks. These senti- 
ments hallowed the sanguinary struggle on 
both sides, and induced friend and foe to 
honour their respective living and dead 
heroes. Both parties bewailed their dead, 
and shared in each other's grief. When 
Patroklus, on the side of the Greeks, falls, 
his death is celebrated with funeral games. 
When Ilektor is killed, Achilles returns the 
body to his sorrowing father, Priamus. In 
the minutest details of the Iliad and Odyssee 
we find touches of genuine human nature. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 109 

The whole social and political life of the Primitive 
Greeks, as recorded in the two poems, must society. 
have been extremely primitive. There is a 
marked difference between the settled agri- A gricui- 
cultural and the roaming, seafaring Greeks seafarers. 
in manners and customs. The first lived on 
meat, the latter on fish, prepared in the ^f'^^ n 
simplest way, and the poet is never weary eaters, 
of extolling the superiority of beef-eaters 
to fish-eaters. The property of a tribe is 
common property. The princes provide 
their own food, and cook their own dinners. 
They build their own tents and make their 
own furniture. Arts, however, must have 
flourished to a certain degree. Chairs and 
footstools of embossed silver are mentioned; 
gold is lavishly used for ornamentation, 
and bronze is worked to perfection. Com- 
merce on the sea-shore is brisk, especially 
with the Phoenicians, who are celebrated for 
their carpets, and other woven stuffs. The 
king is at the same time leader in the field The kings, 
and supreme judge, but the people have 
already some lights. The kings had well- 
constructed and vaulted treasure houses, of Treasure 
which that at Mykense is still in existence. 
These kings must have distinguished them- 
selves by wisdom, justice, and prowess, so as 
to attain power over the masses, who trusted ^/j? 111 " 1 " 
them on account of their virtues. Nearly all royal 
the great founders of royal families were generally 
strangers, and were believed to have been of strangers 
divine origin ; this was, of course, only pos- Tivine 
sible with strangers, of whose pedigree the ori sm. 



110 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

people knew nothing. In the Iliad, Greece 
is represented differently than in the Odyssee. 
This divergence in the organization of the 
people gave rise to the well-founded doubt 
whether Homer could have written both the 
poems. 
Difference The language in the Odyssee is more 
iifad^nd re fi ne d an( l uniform. Everything is described 
Odyssee. as in a state of higher civilization. The 
conceptions of the gods are less realistic 
and more ideal. The social relations are 
more refined. Manners, customs, and the 
mode of living are those of developed 
communities. Towns are described, and 
free, though well-defined international laws 
The and duties are laid down. The position 

P f Siti °meii °^ women is that of the very highest 
civilization; a tender care for children is 
enforced, and the social relations between 
rulers and ruled firmly established. On the 
other hand, we find all the miseries and 
outgrowths of a more complicated civilization ; 
ambition, covetousness, and greed for wealth. 
Poison is mentioned in the Odyssee, and 
attempts to poison are also spoken of. The 
passions are more subdued and veiled than 
The gods in the Iliad. In the Odyssee the invisible 
odySee gods may assume visible bodies, but in the 
and Iliad. Iliad the visible gods possess the power of 
making themselves invisible. This points 
to an entirely different state of religious 
thought. The Iliad is mythological, the 
Odyssee religious and dogmatical. In the 
Iliad the Greeks are represented in the same 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. Ill 

state as that in which the Crusaders were 
when they set out to conquer Jerusalem. 
The Odyssee shows us Greece more like 
Europe during the struggle of feudalism 
against Papal and Imperial authority. But 
both the Iliad and the Odyssee are invaluable 
historical treasures, which cannot be too 
carefully studied. Homer's poems formed Homer's 
the very foundation of the moral and social P° ems - 
organization of the Greeks. They were 
studied by old and young, and were known 
by heart by the educated youth of the higher 
classes. In what high estimation Homer s 
writings were held later in the Christian era 
may be judged from the fact that, at the con- 
flagration of Constantinople, 478 a.d., under 
the Emperor Basiliskus, a copy of Homer's 
Iliad and Odyssee, written in golden letters, 
on a serpent's skin, 120 feet long, was burnt. 
Besides the Iliad and Odyssee, the follow- 
ing works were attributed to Homer : — 

1. The " Batrachomyomachia," one of the Batracho- 
oldest comical epic poems, a parody of the m J°™~ 
Iliad. But it is incredible that a serious 
writer should have turned his own master- 
piece into ridicule. 

2. Hymns, thirty -four in number, full of Hymns, 
heroic sentiments and a childlike inspiration, 

yet altogether different in style and com- 
position from either the Iliad or the Odyssee. 

3. Epigrams, and various other poems, but Epigrams 
these were without doubt falsely ascribed to p^^ 61 
Homer, to give them greater importance with 

the masses. 



112 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Next to Homer stood Hesiod, a poet who 
lived about 100 years later. He was born 
at Askra, in Boeotia, and not at Kyme, in 
iEolis. He was robbed by his brother, 
Perses, of his patrimony, and driven to 
become a poet, to earn his bread. He was 
murdered, having been falsely accused of 
having violated a young maiden ; but the real 
offender was afterwards discovered, thrown 
into the sea, and the Greeks paid divine 
honours to the memory of the injured poet. 
Difference Homer, as we have repeatedly said, gives 
Homer 11 us a correc ^ insight into the social and 
and historical life of the Greeks at two distinct 

Hesiod. p er i d Sj an earlier and a later. Hesiod 
makes us acquainted with the origin of the 
gods and of the world. Homer was the poet 
of heroism ; Hesiod of theology and practical 
agriculture. Not battles or sea voyages 
form the subjects of Hesiod's poems, but 
hard and every-day work. His imagination 
does not reflect a bright world of fighting 
and victorious reality; he sinks into the 
depths of his own contemplative mind, and 
ponders over the misery and injustice of the 
world. He does not despair, but recom- 
mends justice, industry, and piety, as the 
remedies for evil, and the means to attain 
perfect happiness on earth. In his cele- 
«< Works brated poem, "Works and Days," he insists 
and Days." ^hat ^he r0 yal judges should mete out jus- 
tice ; that brothers should be busy in doing 
something, and not quarrel. He lays down 
laws of the deepest wisdom. Proverbs, 






THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY* 113 

moral sayings, and short didactic sentences 
abound in his works. He warns us against 
discord; encourages competition between 
artists and artizans. Virtue with Hesiod, is 
not, like heroism with Homer, a joyful and 
spontaneous outburst of enthusiasm and in- 
spiration, but hard work and an uninterrupted 
struggle ; and victory over the miseries of 
life is only granted to those who are good 
and persevering in justice and faith. Homer 
was the bright bard of chivalrous rapture and 
worldly ecstasy. Hesiod was the gloomy 
poet of the toiling working-classes, and the 
sententious teacher of the peasantry. 

His style was quite different from Homer's. Hesiod'* 
It was obscure, heavy, uneven, and often style " 
oracularly dogmatic. His writings abound 
in fables. The works both of Hesiod and 
Homer, and all those that may have been 
attributed to them, must be carefully studied 
by Historians, who cannot otherwise hope 
to understand the political and artistic de- 
velopment of the Greeks, in their architec- 
ture, sculpture, ornamentation, pottery, and 
the very usages of their every-day life. All 
that Homer and Hesiod wrote was com- 
mented upon by later poets, statesmen, war- 
riors, priests, and working-men, so that the 
whole state-body and every Greek indivi- 
dual thought, spoke, and acted, inspired by 
Homeric or Hesiodic ideas. Single words, 
the name of a god, an imaginary or real in- 
cident or a description contained in these 
works, led to an endless variety of poems. 



114 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Homer's and HesiocPs writings were the 
deep roots of the tree of Greek life, with all 
its mighty branches, rich foliage, sweet blos- 
soms, and glorious fruits. 
The myths To illustrate this I need only refer to the Ti- 

Anient «/ 

Titans and tans (powerful giants), the Kentimanes (hun- 
monst re dred-handed beings), and Kyklops (one-eyed 
monsters) ; these fancy-wrought creatures of 
imagination are incidentally mentioned by 
Homer ; this excited the imagination of poets 
and the spirit of inquiry of philosophers, so 
that two distinct currents of an intellectual 
development — a poetical and a scientific — 
may be traced from these few words. Poets 
were excited to write minute descriptions of 
the very countries in which these phantoms 
resided ; to describe their mode of life, their 
pride and haughtiness ; their defiance of, and 
» battles with, the gods ; their overthrow, and 

final confinement in the interior of the earth ; 
whence, in their powerless rage, they emit 
clouds of smoke, vomit fire, and hurl rocks 
The aiie- against their conquerors. Happily the Greeks, 
these* 1 m a ^ a very early period, perceived the allegori- 
mythsied cal elements in these myths, through their 
learned thinkers, who were not forbidden to 
criticise the inspired writings of their poets. 
The fierce battles of the Titans and Kyklops 
were discovered to be imaginary descriptions 
full of poetical grandeur of volcanic eruptions, 
earthquakes, thunderstorms, or other violent 
phenomena in the disturbed state of the sea 
or sky. Poetical mythology led thus on the 
path of inquiry to scientific truth. 



to 
science 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 115 

The same development took place in the The . 
social and political organization of the differ- o^ganiza- 
ent States of Greece. The councils which p n ? f the 
the gods in heaven held, under the presi- 
dency of Zeus, who patiently listened to the 
different opinions of the gods and goddesses, 
induced the imitative Greeks to establish 
similar councils on earth, at which Agamem- 
non presided, and endeavoured to be as calm 
and dignified as Zeus ; whilst his colleagues 
strove to emulate the cunning of Mercury, 
the heroism of Mars, or the wisdom of Apollo. 

The Spartans were the first to develop The 
this democracy in their state- organization. s P artans - 
We recognise freedom of the community as 
the basis of Greek historical progress. The 
Patriarchal state was, and is still, the con- Demo- 
dition of the East. The father of the family ™? and 
is advanced to be the father of the people. Patriar- 
This state of society always implies uncon- chai State# 
ditional submission and slavish obedience. 
From the times of the Trojan war, when 
every Greek must have become conscious of 
his individual importance, and the helpless- 
ness of his leaders, without men to follow 
them and to fight for them, democracy de- 
veloped itself in all the states to more or less 
perfection. 

Sparta, principally peopled by Dorians, The 
was at first a diarchy, with two kings at the constitu- 
head of the government. One of them was tionof the 
high priest, and the other supreme judge and s P artana - 
military commander. This organization had T . w0 
its mythical origin in the statement that Aris- 

12 



116 



THE SCIENCE OF 



HISTORY. 



Ephori. 



Gerontes. 



Dissen- 
sions. 



todemus bad two sons, twins, Eurysthenes 
and Prokles, neither of whom he wished to 
deprive of a share in the government. The 
kings were advised by five Ephori (council- 
lors, heads of communities), and a senate 
of sixty-eight nobles, called Gerontes (the 
Elders), none of whom was to be under sixty 
years of age, and must have led a virtuous, 
honest, just, and altogether blameless life. 
The state was soon divided into two hostile 
camps. The followers of Eurysthenes and 
those of Prokles aspired to extend their 
authority over the whole of Lakonia, and 
endeavoured to subject the surrounding in- 
dependent states of the Achaeans. This 
attempt produced dissensions amongst the 
lower classes, the haughty princes and the 
unruly nobles of the Achasans themselves. 
Everything was in dissolution. The people 
of the subjugated towns swelled the num- 
ber of slaves and tributary subjects, and 
the ruling Dorians found themselves in a 
very dangerous and precarious position in the 
face of the powerful and dissatisfied masses. 
Lrkurgus. Lykurgus, a descendant of Prokles, is credited 
with having put an end to this unsettled state 
of affairs. He was the son of King Eunomos, 
who had been murdered in the open market 
place, and whose eldest son, Polydektes, soon 
after died, leaving the right of succession to 
his younger brother, Lykurgus. 

On hearing that his brother's widow was 
pregnant, Lykurgus solemnly declared that 
in case she gave birth to a boy he would 



The cha- 
racter of 
Lykurgus 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 117 

transfer the royal dignity to him. The 
widow, an ambitious woman, offered her 
hand to Lykurgus, and promised to have the 
child killed. Lykurgus, horrified at this 
proposal, had the woman carefully watched, 
and ordered the child — if a boy — to be 
brought to him as soon as it was born. He 
was just at dinner when the child was pre- 
sented to him. Joyfully he rose, held up Proclaims 
the boy, and exclaimed, u Spartans, you have Chariiatw 
a king ! " At the same time he stated his Sparta. 
willingness to act as the infant's guardian, 
gave him the name of Charilaus (meaning 
" friend of the people"), and firmly refused 
the royal power. A nation that could boast 
such unselfish and generous characters, was 
destined to play a brilliant part in the History 
of mankind. 

In spite of his magnanimous conduct, 
Lykurgus was accused, by the widow of his 
brother and her party, of murderous inten- 
tions against the child. He left Sparta, Leaves 
went to Krete and Egypt, where he studied Sparta. 
the organization of that mysterious country. 
During his absence disorder and confusion 
grew day by day more terrible. At last he 
was invited by the most powerful citizens to 
return home, to give them a constitution, to 
pacify the people, and to bring law and order 
into the disturbed kingdom. He returned, Gives a 
and drew up a constitution based on the u n. 
old simple and effective laws which the first 
Dorian settlers had possessed, establishing, 
above all, a firm discipline. Herodotus tells 



consiitu- 



TheSenate 
and 



118 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

us of the Spartans that, "in the very early 
times, they were the most lawless of all 
Greeks, and unapproachable by foreigners." 
Lykurgus put an end to this lawlessness. 
He first constituted a Senate (Gerusia), 
assembly, consisting of twenty-eight elders, making, 
with the two kings, thirty chiefs, who had the 
right to enact laws. The people were allowed 
to meet periodically in the open air, and 
to accept or to reject the resolutions of the 
Senate, but no discussion was permitted. 

Lykurgus is said to have divided the whole 
country into 39,000 parts, and gave one to 
each citizen, but this is doubted by modern 
historians. He may have tried to bring 
about a more equitable distribution of the 
The land, and of the toiling Helots, who had to 

Helots. till the soil, to attend to the gardens, and to 
save the free Spartan citizens from all work, 
as the latter had to devote themselves exclu- 
sively to politics and military drill, in order 
Luxury to be able to defend their country. " Luxury" 
society 160 was considered by Lykurgus "the bane of 
society." He forbad gold and silver, and 
introduced iron money. Considering the 
simplicity of life amongst the Spartans, and 
their frugality, and the absence of all trade 
and industry at that period, the record of the 
introduction of iron money is nothing but a 
myth. 
Theeduca- The education of children was to be the 
ckUdrea. most sacred duty of the State, whose citizens 
they were to become. Individual freedom in 
this respect was altogether ignored. The 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 119 

whole life of each person was under the 
direct control of the state, from his birth to 
his old age. Simplicity of mind and bodily- 
strength were especially to be developed. 
This could not have been successfully done 
except by promoting the education of the 
girls, the mothers of the future citizens. 
Women had, therefore, to run, wrestle, and 
throw heavy weights, in order to strengthen 
their bodies, and so enable them to bring 
forth strong and healthy children. Men and Equality 
women in Sparta were placed on a footing of J^^ 
perfect equality. When a Spartan woman women. 
was once addressed by an Athenian with 
the words, " You are the only women that 
rule their men," the haughty answer was, 
" Because we are the only women that bring 
forth men." Each new-born child was in- children 
spected by the senior member of the family a * d th £ Ar 
to which the father belonged, and if it was 
found sickly or deformed, it was exposed to 
starve, for only healthy and strong citizens 
were wanted. The children were above all 
taught to respect their elders ; unconditional 
obedience was enforced, and frugality and 
perseverance in enduring bodily fatigue con- 
stantly insisted upon. Once a year, at the 
festival of Artemis Orthia (the goddess of 
woods and the moon), boys were publicly 
whipped, and woe to him who should show 
signs of pain, he was shunned by every one 
as a contemptible coward. 

To carry out more thoroughly this system Public 
of frugality, education, and discipline, the dlnners - 



120 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Spartans took their meals in public. The 
meal itself was of the simplest kind, and 
no citizen residing in Sparta was allowed to 
absent himself from these dinners, except 
when engaged in some religious act, or 
detained in hunting. 
No arts The Spartans held with invariable tenacity 

sciences in ^° their old and simple customs. With the 
Sparta. suppression of luxury, no arts and sciences 
could flourish. For luxury engenders riches, 
riches create wants, wants stimulate intellec- 
tual activity, and intellectual activity pro- 
duces inventions, discoveries, improvements, 
and a higher development of artistic and 
scientific life. Art was considered super- 
fluous by the Spartans, and their learning 
was confined to reading and writing, and 
Their some heroic songs. They despised rhetoric, 
of° r way and insisted that every one should express 
speaking, himself as briefly as possible. They often 
showed a great power of witty repartee in 
No their short answers. No strangers were 

pe^mftted admitted, nor was a Spartan allowed to 
to reside reside long abroad. The object of this 
m par a. enac t men t was -fc protect their institutions 

from criticism, and the introduction of new 
ideas. To meet strangers on the battle- 
field was the greatest delight of the Spartans. 
weMimo 7 T ne y went to battle singing, adorned with 
battle. wreaths , dressed in short purple tunics. War 
was with them a merry game, full of excite- 
ment. The towns were left without pro- 
tecting walls, for men had to defend the 
common property of independent men. The 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 121 

dead bodies of those who fell fighting for 
their country were covered with laurels and 
purple garments , but only their names were 
inscribed upon their tombs. The exclusively War their 
military training of the Spartans made them ^i eBt 
seek glory in war. Their moral and intel- 
lectual forces were concentrated on that one 
aim, and they became, in spite of their 
limited territory, fearful to all their surround- 
ing neighbours. They early distinguished The two 
themselves in two sanguinary wars against ^ g a a ^ st t ^ e 
the Messenians. The second of these wars Messe- 
was remarkable for the immense influence mans " 
exercised by song and poetry on the waver- 
ing courage of the people. Tyrtseus in- Tyrtaeus. 
spired the Spartans with his battle songs, 
and their heroic deeds and final victories 
were ascribed to his verses. 

Whilst freer oligarchic and democratic insti- ^°7 alt y in 
tutions were founded in the different states of pa 
Greece, the kingly authority at Sparta, though 
curtailed, was never abolished. For fully five 
centuries the two co-ordinate lines of Spartan 
kings were never without some male repre- 
sentatives; so that the divine right, upon 
which they based their influence, was never 
interrupted. The council of the five Ephori, 
and the twenty-eight aged noblemen, could 
never become very formidable antagonists ; 
they controlled the two kings, but they never 
dared to abolish their office; and we may 
say of the Spartan kings, with Thetopompus : Theopom- 
" What the regal authority lost in extent, it g U a r °a n the 
gained in durability." Order and obedience kings. 



122 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

were the principal elements ruling the Spar- 
tan mind, and the static or restraining force 
in humanity was one-sidely cultivated. The 
Character Spartans were therefore very good soldiers, 
Spartans. ^ u ^ very b a( l orators, artists, and philoso- 
phers. In consequence of the neglect of the 
intellectual force in man, we find the people 
courageous, but not generous ; straight- 
foward, but not amiable ; honest, but not 
genial ; obedient, but not reasoning All the 
higher faculties in man were neglected and 
oppressed. 
The royal It was quite different with the other states 
rn1he lty °f Greece. In them, the royal authority was 
other very early altogether abolished ; the people, 
states. in cultivating their bodies and minds, 
attained a higher civilization; and, as ra- 
tional beings, wanted to know why they 
should believe, and, above all, why they 
should obey. This spirit of freedom nowhere 
developed itself to such an extent as in 
Athens. Athens. The myth tells us that Theseus 
Theseus, raised this city to the dignity of the first in 
Attika, and the town, with its free citizens, 
became all - important. This induced a 
municipal spirit, which confined the moral 
and intellectual activity of the Athenians to 
the development of the glory, splendour, 
might, and preponderance of their city. They 
sacrificed every other consideration to this 
aim, which generally made them both partial 
and narrow-minded. 

After Kodrus (1070 B.C.), no one was 
thought worthy to assume the royal dignity, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 123 

and instead of kings, Archons were appointed, 
whose strict responsibility to the people 
placed them in the position of chief magis- 
trates of the town. The Archons were first Archons 
elected for life, then for ten years, and lastly ^ected. 
only for one year. The elections caused con- 
tinuous political disturbances in the State, 
and all the layers of society were pervaded 
with a wild party-spirit, which prevented 
the people from following up their different 
vocations with earnest steadiness. The State 
was so near dissolution that it was found 
necessary to entrust Drako with the drawing Drako the 
up of a new Constitution, giving greater awglYe 
stability to property, life, and the adminis- 
tration of public affairs. In spite of all 
their enthusiastic aspirations for freedom, the 
Greeks did not then succeed in establishing 
a well-regulated democracy. The popular 
commotions led to bitter antipathies. Every- 
one thought himself fit to rule, and no one 
wanted to obey. An incredible amount of 
intellectual energy and moral force was 
wasted by the citizens in the management of 
the State on the principle of giving each 
citizen a proper share in the administration. 
Drako was both haughty and cruel, without 
any higher qualifications for a lawgiver. 
Death was with him the only possible means 
to free the State from all ambitious and free- 
thinking men who ventured to disturb the 
public safety. 

The despots of Athens may be brought Categories 
under the three following categories. at Athens. 



124 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Magis- 
trates. 



Dictators. 



Dema- 
gogues. 



Wealthy 
individuals 
or descen- 
dants of 
ancient 
kings. 



(1.) The periodically-chosen magistrates, 
who, betraying their electors, kept their 
office for a longer period than they were 
elected for, and often transmitted the 
supreme power to their sons. 

Under this category we may place the 
Dictators, invested at certain times for certain 
purposes with irresponsible authority. These 
persons always possessed great influence, 
which they abused by a tyrannical exercise 
of their exceptional military power, contrary 
to the will of the people. 

(2.) Demagogues, who possessed a certain 
amount of talent and ambition, acquired 
the highest power in the state, generally 
under the pretext of protecting the masses 
from the injustice of the rich and influential, 
redressing their grievances and alleviating 
their sufferings. A class of politicians that 
has done much good, but often more evil. 
They are the offsprings of times when the 
people are oppressed by their rulers, or a 
privileged class, and left through ignorance 
at the mercy of unscrupulous agitators. 

(3.) Some wealthy ambitious men, who, 
though enjoying no popularity, ventured to 
seize the Akropolis, and make themselves 
for a time masters of the destinies of the 
Athenians. To these we may add some de- 
scendants of ancient kings, who, instead of suf- 
fering the restriction of their power, u found 
means to subjugate the people, and to extort 
by force an ascendancy as great as that which 
their forefathers had enjoyed by consent." 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 125 

To check these different categories of 
political offenders, and above all to restrain 
the democratic tendencies of the people, was 
Drako's aim. The people of Attika were 
divided at that time into three distinct 
classes. 

(a.) The Eupatridse (noblemen), from whom Eupatrida 
the nine annual archons were elected. Of these 
the first was the Eponymus (the name-giver Eponymus 
and supreme judge) ; the second the Basileus Basiieus. 
(the king and high priest) ; and the third the 
Polemarch (the leader in war) ; the remain- Polemarch 
ing six, the Thesmothetae, were all equal, Thesmo- 
and generally acted as a council to the other thetie - 
three. 

(b.) The Georgoi (the smaller landed pro- Georgoi. 
prietors), who had to till their own soil with 
their own hands. They were independent 
men, often very poor, and formed a danger- 
ous element in the state. 

(<?.) The Demiurgoi (artificers), who mostly mmiur 9^ 
lived in towns, had no land, but practised 
some handicraft, or devoted themselves to 
the culture of arts or to commerce. 

Drako was himself an Enpatrid, and one Drako's 
of the six. Thesmothetae. This may explain character, 
the exceptionally oligarchic character of his 
laws, which nominally remained in force for 
thirty years, from 624 B.C. to about 594 B.C., 
when the Archon and Eupatrid Solon was Solon, 
requested to draw up an entirely new consti- 
tution for the Athenians. 

It was just at the time when the sanguin- 
ary strife between Kylon, at the head of 



126 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

the democrats, and Megakles, as the leader 
of the oligarchs, had weakened the State 
to such a degree, that the insignificant 
Megara had dared to take possession of 
Salamis, an island under the authority 
of Athens, that Solon stepped forward and 
saved the city from utter ruin. Solon was 
His birth of a noble family, born at the time when 
education P samme ti cnus ruled in Egypt, and permitted 
strangers to enter into commercial relations 
with his country, opening thus new sources 
to Greek enterprise. Solon distinguished 
himself in his youth in the Gymnasium, 
where he received a careful education. He 
early left his home, to travel in foreign 
countries, and to satisfy his unbounded love 
of knowledge. Like Lykurgus, he dwelt for 
a time in Egypt, and made himself ac- 
quainted with the religion and political and 
social organization of that country. When 
he returned and found Athens suffering from 
party-strife, and humiliated by the Megarians, 
Solon's he composed an elegy, in a hundred verses, 
Salamis* calling on his compatriots " To goto Salamis 
to fight for the lovely island, and wrathfully 
to shake off the yoke of disgrace ! " Inspired 
by Solon's patriotic lines, the Athenians con- 
quered the island, and re-established their 
supremacy. 
The evil of The next evil, from which he endeavoured 
fanftidsm. to free his unhappy country, was the curse of 
immorality, consequent upon religious mad- 
ness, from which the women especially suf- 
fered. Frantic excitement and wild passion 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 127 

characterized the ceremonies in honour of 
the gods, especially during the Bacchanalia. 
Screams were uttered, dances performed, 
and all the laws of common decency violated. 
Solon entrusted Epaminides, of Krete, with Epamin- 
the reform of the religious, or rather the Krlte. 
moral tone of the masses. Epaminides 
appeared at Athens in the sixth century, 
B.C., which was undoubtedly the great 
reforming age of pre-Christian times. Re- 
forms were everywhere attempted. Con- 
fucius taught in China ; Zoroaster in Persia ; 
Buddha in India ; Ezra amongst the Jews ; 
and the Greeks were influenced by Thaletas, 
Abaris, Aristeas, Pythagoras, and Onoma- 
kritos. Historians cannot fail to see in these Religion* 

-i . , • t ! , i . i reforms in 

simultaneous exertions all over the then the 6th 
known world, the working of the disturbed ceat - B - c - 
forces in humanity. Morals were every- 
where the prey of prejudices, hallucinations, 
and wild fantastic religious ceremonies, and 
the counteracting intellectual force tried to re- 
adjust the lost balance. Everywhere religious 
brotherhoods were established with mystic 
rites and expiatory ceremonies, trying to 
diffuse in new forms the eternally immutable 
moral laws. So-called religious tenets, how- influence 
ever dogmatically systematized, have always ° °s ma3 - 
been most dangerous instruments in the 
hands of authorities, and have generally 
led to a total subversion of all genuine 
moral sentiments. Even the most edu- 
cated are morally and intellectually blinded 
under the deadening influence of such a 



128 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

system of outward formulae to quicken 
the inward emotions for good. All the 
higher aspirations in man are thus wasted 
on mysteries and mystic incomprehensibili- 
ties, and the narcotic intoxicating power 
Tte of a dreamy enervating spiritualism. It 

reii^u8° f would be entirely wrong to accuse the differ- 
systems en t founders of the innumerable religious 
gSSy of sects with having willingly endeavoured to 
deception. dj s tort truth, and to sow the seeds of animo- 
sity, hatred, and intolerance. The original 
teachers of religious s37-stems were generally 
free from all supernatural pretences, and 
knew nothing of the miraculous deeds with 
which they were credited at later periods by 
their followers — their priests and commenta- 
tors. Not the teachers themselves, but their 
Tbeir disciples concocted miraculous tales in the 
disciples l iau ghtiness of their pride, and outvied each 
The other in the invention of incredibilities, con- 

miracuious cern i n g the earthly life of their masters. 
Nearly all these teachers were said to have 
Analogy been born of virgins ; some of them were 
SreiigilS asserted to have been embodiments in the 
teachers, flesh of the supreme Deity. Nearly all of 
them were exposed in their childhood in con- 
sequence of predictions, that they would sub- 
vert the existing state of things. Many of 
them retired for a long time from the world 
into caves, on mountain tops, or into deserts, 
being miraculously fed, or living, like Epa- 
minides for fiity-seven years without food. 
It was often necessary to invent such legends 
as these, to induce the people to follow wise 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 129 

and moral teachings. It is a general pro- 
pensity in man, and the more ignorant he is 
the stronger it is, rather to believe the in- 
credible than the credible; and to do right, 
not for the sake of righteousness, pure and 
simple, but for some mysterious reward to be 
enjoyed in another, utterly unknown world. 

Men generally require an ostentatious Men 
and gaudy outward stimulus to show their Outward 
piety and goodness to one another in public, ceremonies 
Those who did good in silent obscurity, were 
abused as infidels ; those who broke all the 
laws of virtue, but were loudest in their 
religious professions, and performed most 
openly the ceremonies of some creed, were 
praised and extolled as saints. The emotional The 
element in uneducated masses is stronger danger of 
than the reasoning force. Whole comnmni- emotional 
ties and states, for thousands of years, shed elemeuu 
the blood of their citizens in exciting mad- 
dening hatred, producing social confusion 
and utter destruction. This was the case at 
Athens, where religious dissensions polluted 
the very altars of the gods with murder and 
wholesale massacres. 

Epaminides worked out simpler rituals for Epamini^ 
the worship of the gods; new ceremonials, and *?* estab " 
prayers, not so likely to excite the unbridled simpler 
passions and wild emotions of the masses. ntual * 
The dances were toned down. For the scream- 
ing songs, gentler and more harmonious 
hymns were substituted. The extinguished 
fires on the deserted altars were re-kindled, 
to burn with a less fantastic glare. Blood- 

K 



130 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

shed and hatred were no more to pollute 
the temples, and the people had to appear 
crowned with flowers and green wreaths, 
cheerfully, but modestly, to worship the 
Trinity in neglected gods. With the Indians, Brahma, 
unity. Yisljnu, and S'iva were the three gods that 
were worshipped as one manifestation of 
Creator, Created, and Creature ; with the 
Egyptians the same mystic trinity in one, 
was prayed to as Osiris, Isis, and Horus ; 
the Chinese (Confucians) have their Ly, 
Ming, and Sing; the Greeks were now to 
have in Zeus, Apollo, and Athene the three 
gods, as one threefold mystery. Reconcilia- 
Eeronciii- tion and peace, fraternity and goodwill, were 
ation and henceforth to rule the hearts and minds of the 
attained people of Attika. To awaken all the moral 
through f orces f the people by emotional means, was 
purified the principal aim of the religious movement 
prmciplk installed by Solon, with the aid of his mys- 
terious High Priest and Prophet, Epami- 
nides. Having succeeded in this, and 
invigorated the moral sense of the people, 
he endeavoured to find a proper aim for their 
Solon's intellectual powers in a thorough organization 
attempt to f the social and political state, and sought 
the forces to enable each single individual to use the 
working in ^ell-balanced working forces in humanity to 
his own and his fellow-citizens' advantage. 
Like all large-hearted men, he first directed 
his attention to the poor. The masses of the 
Debtors people were crushed beneath enormous debts, 
Creditors, and forced into a state of slavery. To give 
these unfortunates some opportunity to act 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 131 

again as free men, lie abolished the harsh 
laws of debtor and creditor, prevalent in 
Greece. 

To accomplish this, Solon enacted the The"Seis- 
memorable law, known by the name of "Seis- ' 
achtheia," or the law for the relief of poor 
debtors. He cancelled at once all the con- 
tracts which had been entered into by 
such, as had borrowed on their persons or 
lands. Creditors were deprived of the power 
to imprison or enslave their debtors; and, in 
disputed cases, they had to apply to the au- 
thorities for a judgment to render the seizure 
of property legal. Solon restored to their 
full rights all debtors in slavery, and endowed 
them with a new life of free activity. The TheThetes 
Thetes (the small tenants and proprietors) orsm f u 

) .-, -i •-l-ii-ii r n i« tenants. 

were not the only indebted classes ; tor their 
creditors and landlords were again debtors to 
the wealthier landowners, who, through the 
loss they incurred through the Seisachtheia, 
could not pay their creditors, Solon, there- 
fore, lowered the standard of the drachma 
by more than 25 per cent. The wealthier The 
creditors had to submit to a loss of about ^^-ors* 
27 per cent., by which the debtors benefited. 
Finally, he restored the full privileges of 
citizenship, with all the civil rights, to those, 
who had been deprived of them by the Areo- 
pagus. By the removal of the mortgage 
pillars, the freeing of the land, and the pro- 
tection of the enslaved debtors, Solon had, 
so to speak, created a new Athenian people, 
and laid the foundation of that higher de- 



132 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

mocracy which subsequently developed all 

the moral and intellectual energies of the 

Greeks. 

justice Having done justice to the poor, Solon 

the rich, directed his attention to the rich and the 

influential, who were entrusted with the 

government of the state. He classified the 

citizens, according to the magnitude of the 

stake, which they had in the country. He 

Division of abolished all ancient family distinctions, and 

into tour placed in the first class all those citizens who 

classes. f ia( j 5QQ m edimni of corn (about 700 Imp. 

bushels, English), representing an income, in 
money, of about 500 drachmas. " Those who 
received between 300 and 500 medimni or 
drachmas formed the second class, and those 
between 200 and 300 the third. The fourth, 
and most numerous, comprised all those, who 
did not possess land yielding a produce equal 
to 200 medimni." Those of the first class were 
alone eligible as Archons, and had to support 
the navy. From the second class the cavalry 
was formed, and from the third the heavy- 
armed infantry. Each member of these three 
classes was registered, as possessed of taxable 
property, and was rated in proportion to his 
income. In these Solonic enactments we 
have, therefore, the first traces of a gradu- 
ated income-tax. The citizens belonging to 
the fourth class were not liable to any direct 
taxation. It would be erroneous, however, 
to assume that this fourth class paid no taxes 
at all. They were taxed indirectly through 
the duties on imports, which supplied the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 133 

permanent income of the state, whilst direct 
taxes were only levied occasionally. 

This social division entirely changed the The social 
oligarchic and aristocratic character of the changed 
Athenian state. Neither the well-born, ^e 
though impoverished, Eupatrids, nor the f Athene 
thriftv and industrious manufacturers, mer- 
chants, sailors, and money-lenders were to 
rule, but the wealthy landed proprietors, who 
had a stable and real interest in the state, 
were entrusted with its management. By this 
means Solon endeavoured to protect the com- 
munity against the influence of reckless 
usurers and venturesome speculators. The 
administration of the state became the sacred 
duty of those, who were best able to manage 
their private property, and had every reason 
to exert themselves in the promotion of the 
general welfare. Though 2,300 years have 
elapsed, we are compelled to admire the 
wise social institutions of Solon ; and must 
give him still greater credit for his politi- 
cal and iuridical legislation. Everyone, to Solon's 

%) C_7 */ / 1**1 

whichever of the four classes he belonged, andjuri- 
was able to work himself up into a higher dicai 
position ; all depended on his individual euactments 
powers and exertions. The baneful, oppres- 
sive, and deadening influence of mere family, 
or caste-rule was for ever abolished. No one 
who was a free-born Athenian, was excluded 
from a political share in the state. All the 
members of the four classes had votes in the 
general assemblies, in which the officials were 
chosen. The citizens decided upon war ^^ilOEf^ 

NEW YORK, N, Y, 
U'-'RARY ^> 




134 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

peace. The highest as well as the lowest 
officials were responsible to the citizens. 
Their actions could be censured in the public 
assemblies; and, even from their verdict in 
legal matters there was an appeal to the 
general assemblies of the people. Oligarchs, 
aristocrats, landed proprietors, and the people 
were thus united. The common safety of 
the state and individual freedom were the 
firm basis on which all classes could work for 
their mutual happiness. 

To check the restlessness of the citizens, 
and to protect the state from sudden changes, 
Solon endowed the supreme council, the 

The Areopagus, with the superintendence both of 

reopagus. ^ e people and the officials. -The Areopagus 
was a kind of high court of appeal. Every 
citizen who had been invested with some of 
the highest administrative offices in the state, 
and had discharged his duties well, had a 
right to enter the Areopagus. Wisdom and 
virtue were the distinguishing characteris- 
tics of this body, in which all the best moral 
and intellectual forces of the people were 
concentrated. 

Solon's Throughout all the periods of the historical 

attempt to-, , . n -, x . . . 

balance development oi humanity m ancient times, 
the forces we £ nc [ n0 where so wise and perfect an at- 

working in . . 

humanity, tempt at an adjustment of the forces working 
in humanity, as in the legislation of Solon. 
The spirited people undoubtedly represented 
the dynamic, whilst the Areopagus was the 
embodiment of the static force, and Athens 
never stood higher, than during the short 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 135 

period, in which these two forces were per- 
fectly balanced. To accomplish this balanc- 
ing of the two forces, Solon thought it 
necessary to separate the administration of 
justice from the political government of the 
state. Each of the two forces acting in 
mankind must be free, or they will often 
counteract one another, and produce terrible 
convulsions in the state-body. By severing 
justice from politics, Solon freed the moral 
force from accidental, varying influences. 
Public assemblies, in which passions may be 
aroused, are not proper tribunals for the calm 
deliberation of grave, legal matters, affecting 
the life, honour, and property of citizens, jurors or 
He therefore ordered that the Archons only lJlk:asts - 
should possess the right to indict citizens, 
and that all cases should be left then to the 
jurors or dikasts. He distinguished between 
various criminal offences. For murder, he 
maintained the laws of Drako in their full 
severity, and entrusted the Areopagus with 
their application. In cases of manslaughter, he 
placed the decision in the hands of the jurors. 
The laws of Solon, whatever the later 
additions to them may have been, un- 
doubtedly contained the fundamental princi- 
ples of the best possible constitution, full of 
genuine vitality. Solon says, in one of his Soionon 
short fragments still extant, " I gave to the |^° wn 
people as much strength as was required for 
their needs, without augmenting or dimin- 
ishing their dignity. I took care that no 
unworthy treatment should be reserved to 



136 



THE SCIEXCE OF HISTORY. 



The land- 
question. 



Encour- 
agement of 

industry. 



Prohibi- 

tive 

system. 



those who possessed power and were known 
for their wealth. I stood with a strong 1 
shield cast over both parties, so as to allow 
no unjust triumph to either." In this at- 
tempt to establish a just balance between the 
forces acting on humanity, historians will 
find the cause of the extraordinary effect 
which Solon's legislation had on the destinies 
of Athens. 

Solon regulated the land-question, annul- 
ling the seignorial rights of the landlords. 
He gave commercial laws, regulating exports 
and imports. In consequence of the vast 
immigration of foreigners into Attika, he 
encouraged artisans and manufacturers, and 
granted the rights of a citizen to all those, 
who carried on some industrial profession. 
Ho had everyone punished by the Areopagus 
who had no course of regular labour to 
support him. The family was to be so 
constituted, as to further industry, and he 
decreed that, if a father had not taught his 
son some art or profession, the son was to 
be released from all obligation to support 
the father in his old age. He desired, that 
the trade with foreign countries should 
consist principally in products of art and 
manufacture, and not in raw material. 

We find in Solon's enactments the first 
traces of a prohibitive system, which in his 
time was excusable, and which has been 
applied by England, the continental powers 
of Europe, America, and Asia, with more or 
less benefit. We find points in Solon's laws 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 137 

which cannot fail to forcibly remind e very- 
student of History, of what we have called 
the oneness of man's social, political, and 
religious condition. 

Solon was the first to give the head of a Testampn- 
family the power of superseding by free ^/ ^ S])0 
testamentary disposition, the often disputed 
or doubtful rights of relations. He forbade 
the sale of daughters and sisters ; a law, , 

proving that the Oriental notion of looking 
on females as mere property, existed in 
Greece, and required counteraction. We 
have mentioned above that he simplified re- 
ligious ceremonies; he also forbade profuse 
demonstrations of sorrow for the dead, the Demon- 
singing of dirges, specially composed for : JS2JS 
funerals, and costly sacrifices. He forbade 
evil-speaking, whether of the dead or of the 
living. In all the laws of Solon, a spirited 
endeavour to give such enactments, as might 
be improved in detail, without losing their 
general character, is clearly evident. This 
will account for the fact, that many laws of Laws 
a later date were ascribed to Solon. The ^ameoV 
double object of exalting a wise man, and Solon. 
lending importance to the legislation of later 
generations, led, as in poetry, to fraudulent 
attempts to pass laws under the name of a 
known, or even altogether mythical, authority. 

Solon lived at a time, when old ideas had Transition 
become obsolete, and the new had not yet ^™^ 
taken root in the convictions of the people. Solon. 
It was therefore necessary that the old insti- 
tutions should not be virtually abolished, but 



138 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOKY. 

slowly transformed, to give the people every 
opportunity to carry on the work of their 
progressive civilization. Industry, the prac- 
tice of arts, the culture of sciences, courage 
and patriotism, were the manifestations of 
Meansof the dynamic force working in humanity, 
dynamic which Solon tried to develop, balanced by 
forced 10 P^ e ty> justice, the restraint of our wild pas- 
sions, and peace, as the static elements. In 
this he succeeded so far that we may look 
upon his legislation in principle, as the model 
of a democratic constitution. The great 
German historian of Greece, Ernst Curtius 
(whose works have been translated into 
Differ- English), calls Solon's laws "the most per- 
between feet products of an artistically developed 
Solon's legislation." To free man was the aim of 

laws and , .° . 

those of nis enactments. JN early all the Oriental 

omental lawgivers attempted the very contrary. 

legislators. Manu, Zoroaster, and Moses endeavoured to 
rule humanity, not by general laws, which 
are the common good of humanity, but 
by special and detailed regulations, that 
produced moral, social, and political petri- 
factions, which remained immovable for 
thousands of years. Pliable and vigorous 
vitality was the characteristic distinction of 
Solon's laws. 

Solon To give greater force to his laws, Solon 

made . 

Dictator, had himself elected first Archon by the 
Eupatrids, and was invested with full powers 
as peacemaker and legislator. He had his 
laws written down and affixed to wooden 
triangular and square prisms, revolving round 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 139 

a central pole, so that they could be easily 
read by the people. For ten years the laws 
were to remain in force, to test their bene- 
ficial influence. During this period Solon Sow* 
travelled, and visited Egypt, where he had 
friendly intercourse with the Egyptian 
priests, Sonchis of Sais, and Psenophis of 
Heliopolis. Thence he went to Kyprus ; and, 
it was further asserted, that he visited the 
Lydian King, Krcesus at Sardis. The details 
of these travels may be more or less reliable, 
but one thing is certain — the real history of 
the Greeks began with Solon. It was in his 
time that poetry gave way to prose, that epic 
poems were changed into historical narra- 
tives, that the imaginative mythic element 
was superseded by more sober records of 
facts, that history was inaugurated first by 
logographs and subsequently by genuine 
historians. 

Greece was exceptionally the country in Greece the 
which the art of writing and studying His- the^evei^ 
tory could powerfully develop and produce opment of 
models of historical composition which are hlstor y* 
not yet surpassed. A historian can only 
reach excellence if he has made himself 
thoroughly acquainted with Greek historio- 
graphy. We have endeavoured to show, in 
the laws of Lykurgus and Solon, the general 
causes which led to a historical consciousness 
in the Greeks. The more direct causes were Direct 
the following :- _ Sttori- 

(a.) The Greeks never had a special c ai devei- 

• j_ i \ i- i 'ii opment of 

priest-caste. Arts and sciences were with the Greeks. 



140 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

them never the exclusive property of some 
privileged persons. 

(b.) The democratic laws which made the 
citizens partakers in the administration of 
their country. This encouraged inquiry and 
publicity. The facts affecting the common 
weal were common to all, interested all, and 
served as precedents to guide later genera- 
tions in their social and political conduct. 
Wh y The Greek historians attained their excel- 

historians lcnce because they were often themselves the 
excelled, principal actors in, and therefore the best 
and most reliable witnesses of, the occur- 
rences which they described. The Greeks 
very early possessed, through poetry, a 
highly developed, cultivated, and pliable 
language, which was well adapted for prose. 
The Greeks, living in a free state, could tell 
the truth without fear. They had no reasons 
for giving to their narrations any more 
colouring than that of the individual ob- 
server; and, as such observers and historians 
were constantly controlled by that thousand- 
eyed Argus, the people, they could not well 
have distorted truth, even had they felt in- 
clined to do so. The Greeks, when they 
had once left the poetical myths, based on 
dim recollections of the past, devoted them- 
selves to the study of man as man, and pur- 
sued that study in arts and sciences with an 
unwearied perseverance and love. 
Greek his- At first their history was mere biography. 
first mere We may trace the earliest attempts at histori- 
Wography C al prose-writing to Ionia. These consisted 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 141 

of the songs of the cyclical poets in prose, 
succeeded by tables of the genealogies of 
gods and principal heroes. The compilers 
of the latter, however, did not venture 
to assert that such registers were sacred 
parts of their religion, as some Jewish- 
Christians, outdoing the very Jews, have 
asseverated with reference to the genealo- 
gical records of the Old Testament. The 
Greeks looked upon such compositions as 
feeble attempts to register family names, 
with here and there some detached facts, at 
a period, when writers and people did not 
yet possess sufficient critical discernment to 
enable them to distinguish between truth 
and falsehood. History was in the stage of 
mere logography — a compilation of incoher- 
ent facts and legends. 

We give the most important logographers The 
in order that our readers may obtain a clear P rinci i> al 
insight into the development of Greek His- pheWot 
tory from epics, lyrics, logographs, and Greece - 
chronicles to real History. 

1. Kadmus, from Miletus, is mentioned as Kadmus. 
the first prose writer in the sixth century, B.C. 

He must not be confounded with the mythical 
Kadmus (see above), the founder of Thebes. 
Kadmus, the logographer, wrote a historical 
sketch of Miletus and Ionia. 

2. Theagenes, of Ehegium, who probably Th 
lived in the reign of Kambyses, was the first n ® s - 
to write on Homer in prose. He treated the 
works of that poet and those of Hesiod as 
conveying a double meaning, and specially 



eage- 



142 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

endeavoured to explain the allegorical sig- 
nification of the battle of the gods in the 
Iliad. 

.tiiijreon, 3. Of EtJGEON, PoLYZELUS, and DeIOCHUS, 

Poiyzeius, little more than their names is known ; they 
chus. lived before the Peloponnesian war, and are 

referred to by later historians. 
Eudemus, 4. Eudemus, of Parus, and Akusilaus, of 
of Parus, Argos, have left us fragments of great inter- 
ims, of US1 " est, attempting to trace the historical parts 
Argos. Jjq Homer's and Hesiod's works. 
Ameiesa- 5. Amelesagoras, of Chalkedon, mentioned 
cSe- by Clement of Alexandria, as Melesagoras, 
don. wrote before Hekateus, but scarcely any- 

thing from his pen has come down to our 
times. 
Hekateus, 6. Hekateus, of Miletus, composed his- 
of Miletus. Tories, genealogies, and a geography. He 
is said to have been the first who attempted 
to bring detached facts into a coherent form. 
Some of his historical fragments have been 
collected, by Creuzer, a celebrated German 
archaeologist ; whilst all his writings left to us, 
were published by E. H. Clausen, at Berlin, 
1831. His geographical annotations are 
very accurate, and may convince us that, 
what he gives of history, may be equally 
reliable. 
Dionysius, 7. Dionysius, of Miletus, went further than 
1 etus ' Hekateus, and wrote a "Historical Cycle." 
He treats of Darius, the Persians, Troy, and 
the Argonautic Expedition. Diodorus Siculus 
made use of him as a reliable authority. He 
must not be mistaken for Dionysius of 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 143 

Samos, an error which has often been com- 
mitted by several writers. 

8. Charon, of Lampsakus, wrote before Charon, of 
Herodotus, immediately after the death of ^ g mpsa " 
Xerxes, a great quantity of historical sketches, 
which are mentioned by Suidas, and have 

been published by Sevin, under the title : 
" La vie et les ouvrages de Charon de 
Lampsaque." (Mckaoires de PAcademie des 
Inscriptions, vol. xiv.) 

9. Hippis, of Rhegium, born during the Hippis, of 
Persian wars, was the first to write a history Ehe § lum - 
of Sicily. 

10. Hellanikus, of Mytelene, born during Heiiani- 
the Peloponnesian war, died about 411 B.C., Mytelene. 
eighty-five years old. Dionysius of Hali- 
karnassus mentions him as a contemporary 

of Thukydides. His numerous writings 
were unknown to Herodotus. F. Gr. Sturz 
published his fragments at Leipsic, 1788, 
under the title, u Hellanici Frag-menta." 

11. Damastes, of Sigeum, wrote before the Damastes, 
Peloponnesian war of Thukydides appeared ; of Sl s eum - 
he was a contemporary of Herodotus, and 

a pupil of Hellanikus. Besides historical 
works, we possess of him a "Periplus," 
(a description of the coasts of Greece and 
Asia). 

12. Xemomenedes, of Chios, born before Xe ? me - 
the Peloponnesian war, was older than Chios'. ° 
Thukydides, according to Dionysius of 
Halikarnassus. 

13. Pherekydes, of Leros, who is often f^r - 
confounded with the philosopher of the same Leros.' 



144 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

name, of the Island of Syrus, is mentioned 
as having improved prose-writing. We pos- 
sess a large amount of his writings, collected 
by F. G. Sturz, under the title: u Phere- 
cydis Fragmenta," Gerse, 1789. 
Xanthus, 14. Xanthus, of Sardes in Lydia, wrote 
in Lydia! under the Government of Artaxerxes, and 
before Herodotus, to whom his works were 
apparently unknown. The writings of Xan- 
thus were collected and edited by Creuzer 
in Latin. 
This These writers form a group in the second 

£og!>gra- period of the general political and social 
phers development of the national life of the 
transition Greeks. Their works are especially inter- 
J x ° k esthw, for we can trace in them the slow 

myth and awakening of a deeper consciousness, and 
history. ^ e unm i s takable transition from an unreli- 
able, confused, mythical into a more reliable, 
systematized, and historical state of the 
people. This change is to be ascribed to the 
great events which so prominently mark the 
next period, and which conduced to develop 
not only the grandeur of Greek moral and 
intellectual powers, but produced also those 
writers, who were the first models of true 
Historians. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 145 



CHAPTER III. 

We have traced the development of Greece The 
from the mythical period, with its scarcely 53^ment" 
recognizable historical under-currents, to the of Greek 
traditional period, in which the mythic lst01} * 
element receded as the reliable historical 
element advanced. Epic poets wrote the 
records of the first, logographers compiled 
the incidents of the second transition period. 
After these two periods the Greeks step into 
the broad daylight of real History. 

This historical period has three remarkable 
phases : — 

{a.) The conflict between the Oriental 
and Greek spirit. 

(b.) The internal conflict between Greeks 
and Greeks. 

(c.) The destruction of Greece by the 
power of one superior genius, who tried to 
bring unity and order into the dissolving 
state, and entirely destroyed its independent 
political vitality. 

From the moment that the Greeks became Difference 
conscious of themselves, they never sub- ^ZIT 
mitted their individuality to a theocratical, and the 
or any other, state-abstraction. The Egyp- ast * 
tians, Persians, and Jews had always to bow 
to a revealed state-organization, in which 
God, or his representative, was the supreme 
ruler. With the Greeks, as we have already 



146 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

shown, the state was the voluntary union of 
independent communities, composed of free 
citizens. The Eastern nations made con- 
quests. The sanguinary triumphs of cruel 
victors were celebrated by wholesale mas- 
sacres of the vanquished. The Greeks 
colonized. They carried their superior 
artistic taste, higher knowledge, and deeper 
wisdom from island to island, along the 
shores of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The 
peaceful immigrants became masters of those 
amongst whom they settled, through their 
superior intellectual and moral powers, and 
their refined manners. The East wasted all 
its efforts on theology, and the observance of 
prescribed ceremonies in honour of God, or 
in commemoration of some, extremely doubt- 
ful, historical event. The East ' i theologized. " 
The Greeks humanized. The Greeks strove 
to develop all man's higher faculties in har- 
monious order. The East prophesied, and 
the Greeks philosophized. 

The The principal strictly historical occurrences 

thmToc- i n Greece were : — 

currences 1. The Wars with the Persians. 

history. 2. The Peloponnesian War. 

3. The Conquest of Alexander the Great, 
or the Makedonian War. 

Greece in The fi rs f was a struggle against Oriental 

struggles faith, blinded by conceited superstition, and 

Persia ^ ne f ana tical belief in a whimsical ruler, to 
whose arbitrary will the destinies of mankind 
were subjected. This ruler was a "god of 
battles," a "jealous god," under whose banner 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 147 

the conquest of the world was to be under- 
taken by the Persians. They wanted to stamp 
out freedom, to extinguish arts and sciences ; 
they could not bear to see the Greeks with 
their wealth, acquired by industry ; their arts, 
fostered by a religion, which was in reality, 
a continuous prayer in stones or marble to 
the bountiful gods. To destroy this idolatry, 
as they called it, to annihilate the intel- 
lectual activity of humanity by the moral 
opposing power, to exterminate the effemi- 
nate dancers, philosophers, and artists, was 
the task which the Persians confidently under- 
took. For they thought that all strength lay 
in the mere numbers of combatants. No in- 
cident in the world's history so clearly proves, 
that in decisive struggles between nation and 
nation, victory remains with that people, in 
whom the acting and reacting forces, intellec- 
tual and moral, are best balanced, as the war 
between the Greeks and the Persians. Not 
the Spartans, with their one-sided military 
drill, but the Athenians, with their higher 
culture, saved humanity at large, by hurling 
the Oriental principle of despotism back 
into its ancient stronghold, Central Asia. 
The battles of Marathon, Salamis, and The 
Platsea, on land and sea, should not be Marathon, 
studied as mere battles, as conflicts between Salamis, 
man and man, or nation and nation — for pLtsea. 
greater and more brilliant battles have been 
fought. These battles must be considered as 
the first, in which mighty principles were in- 
volved, and the combined action of morals 

l2 



14:8 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

and intellect was victorious, in spite of the 
smaller number of combatants. 

The war, on the side of the Greeks, was a 
just one ; undertaken in self-defence, and for 
the protection of their sacred right to wor- 
ship the gods in their own fashion. The 
war, on the side of the Persians, was unjust. 
First Some Ionian towns, enlightened by Greek 

dire l t ^ ideas, revolted against their foreign task- 
cause Ot ' O # 1 • 1 • 

the war masters, and were assisted in their struggle 
Persians. f° r independence by the Athenians and 
Eretrians. The struggle is admirably 
described by Herodotus, " the Father of 
Darius. History." It is said that Darius was so 
ignorant of everything happening beyond his 
empire that, when he was informed, that the 
Athenians helped his discontented subjects, 
he asked, "Who are these Athenians? 7 
He then shot an arrow into the air, and 
swore to revenge himself on these unruly 
people. He specially appointed a servant to 
remind him at every meal of the Athenians, 
and his oath. Had he known History, and 
through History the social character, political 
organization, and indomitable spirit of the 
Greeks, he would not have risked the lives 
of thousands of his people, his fame, and 
happiness, in a wanton and useless war 
against the Greeks. It is to the eternal 
advantage of humanity, that blind despots 
will neglect information, and think them- 
selves omnipotent, though they have uncon- 
sciously to bend under the inexorable law of 
causation. This law the historian has to 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 149 

trace in every event of the past, and its 
action is especially evident in this first 
memorable contest between European civili- Contest 
zation and despotically-ruled Central Asia. weTtand 
The contest has virtually never ceased, from East. 
the times of the battle of Marathon, down to 
our own. Civilization, in the sense in which 
we have defined it, has had unceasingly to 
contend with the badly balanced forces in 
Central Asia. 

The beneficial effect of the Greek vic- 
tories was immediately apparent. Their 
sudden and unexpected successes roused, as Result of 
suddenly and unexpectedly, the whole moral Victory of 
and intellectual vitality of the Greeks, and the 
the really golden, the Periklean, age was 
the result of this activity. Freed from the 
threatening burden of despotic Asia, the 
Greeks could develop in arts, sciences, and 
political freedom to the very height of 
civilization, but unhappily they disturbed 
the balance between-the two forces working 
in humanity. They began to neglect the Neglect of 
restraining influences of true morals ; they morals. 
only cultivated their intellectual faculties at 
the expense of justice, and lost true de- 
mocracy, tempered by self-restraint, and a 
reasonable submission of the individual to 
the happiness of the many. The one-sidedly 
educated Spartans were jealous of the gene- 
rally cultivated Athenians, and unwillingly 
saw them reap the fruits of their con- 
quests. They saw the Athenians develop 
their naval power, and become masters of 



150 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 



Jealousy 

between 

Spartans 

and 

Athenians 



Influence 
of the 
Athenians 
in our own 
times. 



Arts and 
sciences. 



Their 
relics. 



Asia Minor, and the seas, surrounding the 
peninsula. The Spartans fostered, in sullen 
gloominess, what appeared to them the 
highest duties of good citizens : frugality, 
simplicity, obedience, and stern submission 
to the laws of Lykurgus. The Athenians, 
on the other hand, inspired by freedom and 
a higher intellectual activity, unfolded quali- 
ties in politics, arts, and sciences, which were 
unique in their kind. They contributed, 
directly and indirectly, more than any nation, 
to stimulate the energies of Europe in all the 
different branches of progress. The Athe- 
nians furnished us with our political ideals, 
with the canons of refined taste, with model 
masterpieces in tragedy, comedy, architec- 
ture, sculpture, painting, and all the different 
branches of philosophy. Science was not 
altogether their invention, but they made it 
intelligible, by freeing it from all mystic ele- 
ments. A correct inductive, or deductive, 
method of reasoning was first attempted, 
and beauty, in harmonious forms, was for 
ever established by them. Their temples 
and sculptures rose out of the ruins of the 
half-Egyptian, half- Assyrian constructions, 
like so many marble epic poems and lyric 
effusions in stone and bronze, to teach us, how 
great a civilizing influence genuine art must 
have. We carefully preserve the smallest 
remnants of this period. An isolated, and 
often mutilated, finger, ear, arm, leg, head 
of a statue, a tripod, the capital of a column, 
or specimens of pottery and trinkets, are col- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 151 

lected in richly-endowed museums. These 
sacred relics are visited by millions, studied 
by archaeologists, commented upon, imitated, 
and reproduced in endless copies. We must 
try to trace the causes of this phenomenon. 
The tragedies of iEschylus, Sophokles, and 
Euripides, are still written upon with una- 
bating earnestness. Sokrates and Plato, 
Demokritos and Aristotle, are still studied 
with unfailing interest. The Greek histo- 
rians were the first to teach us how to write 
history ; and there are no better models than 
their master works. 

In analogy with their three great tra- Analogy 
gedians, we have three great historians. ^rtaed n 
The tragedy or drama represents individual and' 
man in conflict with outer circumstances, and Hlstor y- 
other men. History describes humanity at 
large in its uninterrupted struggle on the pro- 
gressive path of civilization. The Greek his- 
torians did not merely record detached facts, 
but, like their tragedians, already attempted 
to show that the destinies of man evolve from 
his actions ; his actions from his passions ; his 
passions from his character ; and his character 
from the natural, social, political, and reli- 
gious circumstances surrounding him. 

In our second chapter we systematically Herodo- 
traced the slow and gradual development of * us ' * he 
History among the Greeks, from mythic, Historian. 
epic, and lyric attempts, to logographs and 
chronicles. . iEschyius 

Herodotus, who corresponds to .ZEschylus and Her °- 
in tragedy, was the first writer who had compared. 



tiis' birth. 



152 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

some general principle in compiling events, 
and bringing them into a historical form. 
Herodotus, as a historian, stands, in his crea- 
tive geniality, even higher than ^Eschylus 
as a tragedian. Whilst the latter had direct 
forerunners in Thespis and Phrynichus, 
Herodotus had to create History as an art, 
in form as well as in spirit. The great merit 
of Herodotus was that he described man in 
nature ; and tried, without any national bias, 
to account for the different customs, man- 
ners, and religious systems in the nations of 
whom he wrote. 
Herod o- Herodotus was born at Halikarnassus, a 
town in Karia, about the year 484 B.C. 
He very early left his native town and 
His travelled. He wandered through the whole 

tiaveis. f G reece? Makedonia, Thrakia, and reached 
the mouths of the river Dnieper. In the 
East he went beyond the regions, where 
Babylon had been situated, and visited 
Egypt, and the surrounding countries. On 
Settled at his return he settled at Samos, and began to 
bamcs. wr ite his great historical work, describing 
the wars between his countrymen and the 
Asiatic Persians. It is stated, that he com- 
menced his history when forty-four years of 
age, and read parts of it at Olympia, about 
456 B.C. ; some other fragments ten years 
later at the Panathensea, 447 B.C. ; and other 
portions probably at Korinthum and Thebes. 
He proceeded with a colony of Athenian 
Went to citizens to Grrsecia Magna (Italy), where he 
Thuni. settled in the town of Thurii, founded on 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 153 

the ruins of Sibaris. These assertions are 
all more or less doubtful, though there is 
nothing improbable in them. 

Herodotus was born at the time, when The aim 
iEschylus had reached the height of his ^ski 
poetical power, and the tragedian may be writing 
looked upon as his model, not only in the lstor ^- 
fundamental conception of his work, but 
also in his social and political relations to his 
contemporaries. What JEschylus attempted 
in his tragedy, " The Persians," Herodotus 
carried out in his historical master -work. 
Both wished to show the difference between 
the Greek and Oriental modes of thinking 
and acting. Both extolled independence 
and freedom, pointing in every line to 
the contrast between despotism and de- 
mocracy. The very style of Herodotus, The style 
his mode of composition, the systematic ofh }^ cot ^- 

-. , . i i • t i n position. 

order m his work, his sober and well- 
founded reasoning, his correct chronology, 
and the amount of detail collected and 
used, for a certain, clear, general pur- 
pose, at once place him far above all Orien- 
tal chroniclers. These generally rush from 
one age into another ; accept traditions and 
myths, dreams and fancies, as realities ; 
exercise no critical spirit, and are incapable 
of discriminating between probabilities and 
impossibilities. As Herodotus undoubtedly Herodo- 

received much information, concerning the J u ,? °. ft f n 

t^ j r -o i • a • t» • falls mto 

.bast irom H-gyptian, Assyrian, or Jr ersian the errors 

priests, he otten unconsciously falls into ch^ni^ 1 
the errors of Oriental writers. He exag- ciers. 



154 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

gerates, allows his imagination to gain the 
better of his reason, and notes down com- 
munications that are full of mystic incompre- 
hensibilities, and improbabilities. It must, 
however, be said, in honour of Herodotus, 
that we generally find him on the side of 
scepticism, and he often tells us that he 
Egyptian was told this or that fact, by a priest. Hero- 
on fl Her Ce dotus cou ^ n °t help admiring the antiquity, 
dotus. the powerful hierarchical institutions, the 
deep wisdom, and symbolic grandeur of the 
Egyptians ; and that his mind was more or 
less influenced by this admiration cannot be 
denied ; yet, in spite of this bias, he con- 
stantly strove to be truthful. Many of his 
assertions, laughed at by our most learned 
and pious historians, theologians, and philoso- 
phers, have, in this nineteenth century, been 
The canon proved to be facts. The canon of Berosus is 
of Berosus now no longer a mere myth, and the thirty - 
thirty-one one dynasties of Egypt, dogmatically set 
Egyptian as id e \yy our own historical falsifiers, and 

cunningly attributed to the inordinate boast- 
fulness of the proud and untruthful Egyp- 
- tian priests, are now well-authenticated his- 
torical facts. The Poet iEschylus, and the 
Historian Herodotus could not altogether 
avoid bestowing some praise upon mystic in- 
stitutions that gave millions of human beings 
comfort, and a certain standard of morals. 
Charac- In spite of these shortcomings, which do not 
teristics lessen the value of the historical writings of 
dotus. Herodotus, we find in him an unbounded 
love of freedom, and a strong spirit of seep- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 155 

tical discernment. He makes all his second- 
hand assertions with considerable reserve, 
and tries to bring moderation, order, and Modera- 
system into his work. We recognize the J™}' order 
mythical part of Greek History by his very system, 
treatment. He does not speak of the Phoe- 
nician Europa, of Medea, of Kolchis, or 
Helena, of Troy, as positive entities ; he 
makes us recognize their half-historical, 
half-poetical nature. He relates with great 
minuteness the first historical conflict between Fir ^. 
an Asiatic people and a Greek tribe in Asia between 
Minor : the conquest of Krcesus, King of As i atics 

find soniG 

Lydia, by the mighty Kyrus. He then fur- Greeks. 
nishes us with an account of the Persians 
and Medes, and the subjection of the Baby- 
lonians, Assyrians, and Egyptians by the 
Persians. In mentioning the expedition of Descrip- 
Darius (Hystaspis) against the Skythians, skythians 
he describes the customs and manners of 
these northern nations and their country. 
In the fifth of his nine .books, named after . 
the Nine Muses, Herodotus records the revolt 
of the Greeks in Asia Minor against Darius, 
and the consequence of this, the war between 
the Persians and the European Greeks. He 
concludes his detailed and most interesting 
work with the battles of Platsea and Mykale\ 

The style of Herodotus is simple, lucid, Herodo- 
light, and possesses an indescribable charm. j^an 
He is, above all, entirely objective, and just to 
equally just to friend and foe. He recognizes f" e end and 
great virtues in his enemies, and does not as- 
sume, the Greeks to be the only chosen nation. 



156 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

He does not speak of all other human beings 
as merely tolerated on earth, or specially 
created to be slaughtered for the glorification 
of some exclusively Greek god. Not without 
good reason were the works of Herodotus 
read, studied, commented upon, and explained 
by the oldest grammarians. They are equally 
prized by modern writers, and still serve as 
one of the most reliable sources of information. ' 
Herodotus often deviates from his principal 
subject, and turns the attention of his reader 
inter- to secondary matters. In treating such epi- 
episodes. s °des, he has a double aim : to interest and 
amuse, and at the same time to instruct his 
reader, by making the differences between 
Greece and Persia, or any of the other 
Oriental states, as intelligible as possible. 
His History is one of the very best popular 
works, an epos in prose, destined to be a 
guide for the young, and to arouse in them 
not only patriotism, but also a well-founded 
estimation and appreciation of foreign man- 
ners and customs. 
Causes Hypercritical minds may blame Herodotus 

couVnot f° r often introducing legendary and super- 
altogether natural subjects into his text, but the causes 

discard all n ,-, • J ,-, r ni • 7 

legends tor this were the following : — 
andfabies. ( a ) At his time it was quite impossible to 
detach all fabulous material from the histories 
of ancient nations. 

(b.) He invented none of these fables, 
but received them, generally from foreign 
priests. 

(c.) He related these fables to interest the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 157 

people, and to satisfy the spirit of the times 
in which he lived. 

His anecdotes and legends, after all, only purpose 
serve to show with greater clearness the f h ^ 
sober simplicity of the Greek intellect, con- 
trasting with the adventurous tendencies of 
the Africans and Asiatics, who delighted in 
the incredible and impossible. When he tells Allegories 
us of seven pairs of hawks that pursued two 
pairs of vultures, plucking and tearing them, 
the allegorical meaning is quite evident. The 
application immediately follows, and the omen 
is to stimulate the Persian chiefs to action. 
When Herodotus states that the guards al- 
lowed the noble Persians to pass, " moved as 
they were by divine impulse" we recognize in 
these and similar passages the usual style of 
Oriental writers. Many of his incidental tales 
are as beautiful, as they are full of moral mean- 
ing. Solon is said to have visited the rich and Solon and 
mighty king of Lydia, Krcesus, who showed Krcesus - 
him his immense wealth, and then asked the 
Greek lawgiver, whom he thought the hap- 
piest man in the world. To the intense aston- 
ishment of the monarch, Solon replied, " An 
Athenian, Tellus, who, though poor, was al- TheAthe- 
ways contented; he lived to see his children's S^* 
children survive him, and had at last the 
honour to die in defending his country's wel- 
fare." The question as to the next happiest 
man on earth, made by the disappointed 
king, received the following answer: " The 
next happiest men were Kleobis and Biton, Kieobis 
the sons of a priestess of Hera, at Argos. andBiton - 



158 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOKY. 

When the Argives were celebrating the fes- 
tival of their goddess, it was required that 
the priestess should be driven in a chariot to 
the temple. The oxen did not come. The 
priestess, pressed for time, was in despair. 
Her sons, seeing her anxiety, dragged the car, 
on which she sat, to the temple, and reached 
it in right time. The mother, transported 
with joy, prayed that the goddess would 
grant to her sons the greatest blessing. Upon 
this the two, exhausted with fatigue, fell 
asleep — and awoke no more. In commemo- 
ration of their filial piety, the Argives caused 
their statues to be made, and dedicated them 
to the god of Delphi. Kroesus now angrily 
No man asked a third time, "Whether he thought 
fore P iLk e " n °thing of a great king's happiness ? " But 
death. Solon replied, " No man can be called happy 
before his end." The proud king failed to 
understand the deep wisdom of the sage, and 
dismissed him with signs of disfavour; but 
he soon had to learn by bitter experience the 
truthfulness of Solon's words. When, con- 
Kyrusand quered by Kyrus, deprived of all his riches, 
Kroesus. anc [ condemned to death, he had to mount 
the stake, he bitterly exclaimed, three times, 
" O Solon ! " The mention of the name of 
the wise man saved his life, for Kyrus, the 
Persian king, having been told the above 
story, was quicker to understand the meaning 
of Solon's remark, took pity on Kroesus, and 
made him his friend. The intention of the 
narrator is clear : he wishes to contrast Greek 
wisdom and experience with Oriental haughti- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 159 

ness, boasting of transitory wealth and fleet- 
ing power. 

The political and philosophical genius of Demo- 
Herodotus may be best traced in the discus- crac 7' 0h " 
sion he allows to take place between Otanes, and 
Megabyzus, and Darius on Democracy, Oli- Monarch y 
garchy, and Monarchy. We are well aware 
that the identical words were not spoken, over- 
heard, and written down by Herodotus ; but 
the task which the historian set himself, was to 
discuss the advantages and disadvantages of 
the three different forms of government. If 
the historian be well versed in psychology, 
he will be able to give us a deep insight into 
the very mode of thinking, and, therefore, 
also speaking, of an individual. Assuming 
Otan&s to have been a conscientious Demo- 
crat, he could not have advocated Democracy 
in other and better terms. It is, in fact, the 
principle of Democracy that speaks, and not 
Otanes himself, when Herodotus makes him 
say :— 

"It appears that no one of us should otanes on 
henceforward be a monarch. You know to Demo " 

cracy. 

what a pitch the insolence of Kambyses 
reached, and you have experienced the ty- 
ranny of the Magus. And, indeed, how can 
a monarchy be a well-constituted govern- 
ment, where one man is allowed to do what- 
ever he pleases without control ? For insolence 
is engendered in him by the advantages that 
surround him, and envy is implanted in man 
from his birth, and having these two, he has 
every vice. For puffed up by insolence he 



160 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

commits many nefarious actions, and others 
through envy. He envies the best who con- 
tinue to live. He delights in the worst men 
of the nation. He readily listens to calumny ; 
is the most inconsistent of all men. If you 
show him little respect, he is offended for 
not being sufficiently honoured. If any- 
one honours him too much, he is offended, 
as with a flatterer. He changes the institu- 
tions of his country, violates women, and 
puts men to death without trial. But a 
popular government bears the fairest name of 
all — equality of rights — and is guilty of none 
of those excesses practised by a monarch. 
The magistrate obtains his office by lot, and 
exercises it under responsibility, and refers 
all plans to the public. " 

We have here a terse and truthful opinion, 
exposing in a few lines all the possible dan- 
gers of despotism, and showing all the 
advantages of a well-regulated and properly 
organized Democracy. In these fundamental 
principles there have been no changes since 
these words were written, 2,200 years ago. 
Herodotus next makes Megabyzus present 
his views on Oligarchy : — 
Megaby- "I concur with Otanes," says Megabyzus, 
" about abolishing tyranny; but on the other 
side nothing is more foolish and insolent than 
a useless crowd ; therefore it is on no acount 
to be endured, that men, who are endeavour- 
ing to avoid the insolence of a tyrant, should 
fall under the insolence of an unrestrained 
multitude. The former, when he does any- 



zus on 
Oligarchy 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 1G1 

tiling, does it knowingly, but the latter have 
not the means of knowing, for how should 
they know, who have neither been taught, 
nor are acquainted with anything good or 
fitting? They who, rushing on without 
reflection, precipitate affairs like a winter 
torrent. Let us choose an association of the 
best men, commit the sovereign power to 
them, and it is reasonable to expect that the 
best counsels will proceed from the best ■ 
men." 

All that Oligarchs can possibly urge in 
their own favour, is said by Herodotus in 
these few words. The ignorant masses are 
often a dead weight to progress, and a few 
intelligent men may promote the welfare of 
the nation with greater success, but who is to 
elect these exceptionally clever rulers? They 
themselves, or the people? If they them- 
selves, we run the risk of seeing the tyranny 
of the one succeeded by the tyranny of some 
privileged many, and instead of having one 
tyrant the people would have an indefinite 
number. If the people were to elect, then 
the spectacle that Greece presented would 
be repeated, and the masses would be mere 
tools in the hands of those for whom they 
had to vote. Oligarchical institutions are 
worse than Monarchical, and undoubtedly 
more dangerous than those of Democracy. 

Finally, Darius, the son of Hystaspes, Darin?, 
advocates Monarchy as follows : — ^^^^ 

"If three forms of government are pro- on 
posed, and each of these, which I allude to, Monarch F- 



M 



162 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

the best in its kind — the best Democracy, the 
best Oligarchy, and the best Monarchy — I 
affirm that the last is far superior. For 
nothing can be found better than one man, 
who is the best. Since acting upon equally 
wise plans, he would govern the people with- 
out blame, and would keep his designs most 
secret from the ill-affected. But in an 
Oligarchy, whilst many are exerting their 
energies for the public good, strong private 
enmities commonly spring up. For each 
wishing to be the chief, and to carry his own 
opinion, they come to deep animosities, one 
against another, from whence seditions arise ; 
and from seditions murder ; and from murder 
Monarchy results ; and thus it is proved how 
much this form of government is the best. 
When the people rule it is impossible, evil 
should not spring up. If this is the case, 
some one of the people stands forward, and 
puts them down ; on this account he is ad- 
mired, and being admired, he becomes a 
monarch. To comprehend all in one word : 
Whence did the freedom of the Persians 
come, and who gave it ? Was it from the 
people, or an Oligarchy, or a Monarch ? 
My opinion, therefore, is that, as we were 
made free by one man (Kyrus), we should 
maintain the same kind of government ; and, 
moreover, that we should not subvert the 
institutions of our ancestors, seeing they are 
good, for that were not well." 
Sophistry Darius gained his point, and in the true 
stition. pe Oriental spirit was chosen Monarch, because 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 163 

his horse was the first to neigh at sunrise, 
and because lightning and thunder came 
from a clear sky, to announce the pleasure 
of the gods at the election of their favourite. 
The monarchical principle of Oriental despot- 
ism was thus established on a combination of 
sophistry and superstition. Despotism or 
Theocracy, as the rudest, simplest, and most 
primitive form of government, hindered all 
progress in Central Asia. In all these ac- The aim of 
counts, Herodotus aims to reduce the different P er °doti« 
historical phenomena to first principles. In historical 3 
describing the simple, frugal, and powerful ^ b e e * a °i 
Persians, developing from a small state into fi«tprin- 
one of the most powerful empires, Herodotus ciple3 ' 
wishes to impress us with the truth, that 
virtue and honesty lead to grandeur ; but that 
might without right, however great, is after 
all really small and petty, and bears the 
germ of dissolution in itself. He does not, 
like other writers, abuse and calumniate the 
enemies of Greece ; on the contrary, he 
shows the Persians in their very best colours, 
so as to magnify the conquest of so valorous 
and noble a foe by the smaller number of 
Greeks. A humane regard for the deadly 
enemy pervades every line of this master 
historian. To glorify the Persians, Herodo- He ^otu^ 
tus gives us a whole book on the Egyptians Persians 
(the second, under the title of Euterp§), % d % 
minutely entering into their powerful hier- 
archical, military, and social organization; 
and shows that, in spite of their learning and 
cleverness, they had to yield to the Persians, 

M 2 



iau-3. 



164 THE SCIENCE OP HISTORY. 

and were finally subdued by them. Not to 
lose sight of Greece and the Greeks, he men- 
tions very appropriately Polykrates of Samos, 
and gives a description of the political and 
social organization of the Spartans. Hero- 
dotus was the first to attempt to point out the 
connection between the deeds and destinies of 
men and nations, and did this especially, with 
Herodotus g re at clearness, in describing Egypt. With 
gypt. re £ erence £ ^ a ^ country he gives us reliable 
information, which, in spite of the recent 
discoveries and decipherings of hieroglyphic 
inscriptions, has in no way been contradicted. 
Assyria and Babylon are treated with equal 
accuracy. The cuneiform inscriptions and 
the slabs, tablets, cylinders, &c, that have 
been brought to light in our own century, 
m. Eotta through the exertions of M. Botta, the French 
Et d iion. Consul, and the Right Hon. Sir Henry Austin 
air Henry Layard, are additional evidences of the good 
Layard. faith of Herodotus as a historian. 
Tm second The second phase of Greek historical life 
phase of comprises the Peloponnesian war. Greeks 
historical fought against Greeks. Sanguinary and fra- 
lite - tricidal feuds broke out because the Greeks 

had lost the balance of the acting and react- 
in cr forces in State, Politics and Morals. The 
direct outbreak of hostilities was attributed 
to some slaves that had been taken from 
Aspasia ; others asserted that Perikles him- 
self hastened the catastrophe, because he was 
afraid, lest he should share the fate of his 
friends Pheidias and Anaxagoras. Histo- 
rians must, however, look for deeper causes 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 165 

of these volcanic convulsions, which were 
the deadly precursors of the final dissolution 
of Greece. In the wide difference between 
the organizations of Sparta and Athens, we 
shall discover the cause that brought about 
disunion, instead of union, amongst the p is " ni °a 
tribes ot the same race, lne dissensions be- 
tween the towns, the hatred of the smaller 
states to one another, the jealousies between 
the two leading powers, Sparta and Athens, 
prevented the Greeks from forming a united 
and mighty empire. In one expedition of 
some importance we have seen the Greeks 
inspired for a short period by a common 
idea. In the Persian wars differences often 
arose, even in the sight of the powerful enemy. 
So soon as the common foe was vanquished, 
the Greeks turned their bloodstained weapons 
against one another. Never in the world's 
history were such treachery, animosity, 
and hatred exhibited, as by Greeks against 
Greeks. And no people of so high a degree 
of culture have ever been guilty of such 
degrading and reckless deeds as the Athe- 
nians. The Democratic institutions were Demo- 
superseded by noisy, unprincipled factions, crac y , , 

, r . , J i x 1 1 1 xi • superseded 

which were too weak to hold their own by Dema- 
ground, and were entirely subjected to the s°s ues - 
wild passions and the s< >rdid egotism of their 
ambitious leaders. During this sad period 
the subjective individual insisted upon his 
own rights, with an utter disregard of the 
objective welfare of the masses. An alliance 
was concluded with the more cunning and 



166 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

powerful Spartans, and with their aid the 
weaker states were subjugated. The Spar- 
tans made use of the unpatriotic Athenians 
to acquire their supremacy in the Pelopon- 
nesus, and trampled all freedom under foot, 
ruling even more tyrannically than ever 
Athens had dared to do. Thebes next took 
the lead in Greece, and weakened the power 
of Sparta ; but, after the death of Epaminon- 
das, sank back into its former insignificance. 
As in the Italian towns daring the Middle 
Ages, and in Germany during the nineteenth 
century, it was generally felt in Greece, at 
this time, that some kind of central authority 
was wanted to save the states from utter 
ruin and dissolution. 
Thukydi- This second phase found in Thukydides, 
des- the second of the three great historians of 

Greece, a masterly exponent. He was born 
471 B.C., about thirteen years later than Hero- 
dotus. He himself took part in the Pelopon- 
ne'sian War, and commanded a section of 
the Athenian fleet; but, unable to defend the 
town of Amphipolis against the Spartans, was 
deprived of his command, and banished. For 
Fortwenty twenty years he lived in quiet seclusion in 
exSe. m ^ ie small Thrakian town of Skapte, the birth- 
place of his wife. During the whole of this 
time he was occupied with the collection of 
materials for his celebrated historical work 
on the Peloponnesian War, the plan of which, 
he is said to have conceived, immediately 
after the first collision. He has left us only 
the history of the first twenty- one years of 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 167 

the destructive war, death having inter- 
rupted his work. Thukydides, as historian, Thukydi- 
occupies the same position as Sopliokl^s, as s^okis* 
tragedian. His treatment of history was compared. 
entirely different from that of any of the 
preceding writers. His method, however, 
was as little opposed to that of Heredotus, 
as was the art of Sophokles to that of 
iEschylus ; both were simply higher develop- 
ments in the composition of history and tra- 
gedy. Sophokles and Thukydides lived 
at a time when, although the general cul- 
ture of the masses was unequal, the upper 
layers of society had reached a higher philo- 
sophical and aesthetical state of civilization. 
Both tried, therefore, to address themselves 
to the more educated of their nation, and 
did not endeavour to interest the masses 
in a more simple and popular way, like 
-ZEschylus and Herodotus. The pathetic and 
pompous were softened by Sophokles ; he 
strove to draw his characters without ex- 
aggeration, and succeeded in making them 
more lifelike, without lowering their ideal 
nature. This was also done, by Thukydides, 
in History. The popular myths and legends 
were omitted, and History was to be placed 
on a higher pedestal than mere superstition, 
or accidental social organization. The very 
causes of prevalent superstitions, and social 
and political conditions were to be traced. 
Whilst Herodotus spoke to the senses of his 
readers, Thukydides addressed himself only 
to their cool and sober reason. Herodotus was 



168 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

the outgrowth of his times, but Thukydides 
was the master of his, and stood far above 
his age. He was philosophical, practical, 
and possessed a vast knowledge of men. He 
described the deplorably dissolute society 
in which he lived; but showed how, through 
wisdom, the sunken state might be revived. 
Thukydides in History and Sophokles in 
Tragedy charm us by laying bare the hid- 
den motives of actions, this being the very 
highest point Historians and Tragedians 
can reach. 
Principal Thukydides was undoubtedly the first in 
Thuk esm History to develop the following qualities : — 
aides." (a.) He is thoroughly pragmatic; that is, 

he exhibits clearly the causes and conse- 
quences of events — not from a one-sided 
party, but from a general point of view. 

(h.) He gives us detailed political speeches 
in perfect accordance with the historical 
character of the speakers. 

(c.) He is poetical and lively, yet truthful 
in his records of striking details, throwing 
light on great and decisive facts. 

(d.) He is unsurpassed in his style, which 
is by far more harmonious and artistic in its 
beauty than that of Herodotus. 

(<?.) He shows an unbounded love of truth 
and impartiality. He gives us a clear pic- 
ture of the spirit of his times, which we see, 
as in a mirror, pass before our mind's eye. 
The critics Some insignificant critics have blamed 
dides U y " Thukydides for having written in favour 
of aristocratic, and disparaging democratic 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 1G9 

institutions. But this he did not do. He 
undoubtedly wrote against the pernicious in- 
fluence of headless and heartless demagogues, 
who tyrannized over the country, and were, 
as he foresaw, the direct cause of the decline 
and fall of Greece. 

With regard to the sneeches which Thuky- The , . 

J • l a • , & i i • il • XT ' I. A speeches of 

aides introduced m his History, a word the 
must be said. Modern historians altogether £"an!cJera 
dispense with this custom, which was ex- of Thuky* 
tensively practised by Greek and Roman ' es * 
writers. Modern historians do well to avoid 
this method, except where they can quote 
from well-authenticated reports. The facts Facts and 
themselves must speak, and the persons, 
according to the more scientific view we 
take of History, step into the background. 
Speeches, however, were, with the Greeks, 
the very essence of their political and even 
philosophical life. The plastic and dramatic 
elements pervaded all layers of society, both 
in the larger and smaller states. This cha- 
racteristic preference for rhetorical effusions 
may be traced in Homer, whose speeches are 
perfect models of political eloquence. The 
historians of old were not able to divest 
themselves altogether of the customs of their 
times, and the intellectual atmosphere in 
which thev had been reared. 

No period was so favourable for the use of 
rhetoric as that in which Thukydides wrote; 
and, certainly no historian, whether ancient 
or modern, has made so excellent a use of 
this kind of dramatic representation of his- 



170 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Brasidas, 
the 

Spartan 
com- 
mander. 



His 

address to 
the .Akan- 
thians. 



torical characters as he. Herodotus also 
introduces his characters as speaking, but, as 
we have pointed out, it is rather the histo- 
rian who speaks, to advocate certain princi- 
ples, than the characters themselves. With 
Thukydides this is different. The speeches 
he introduces are characteristic of the very 
mode of thinking of his heroes ; they are the 
truthful expressions of the very souls of the 
speakers ; and, at the same time, reflect the 
whole spiritual life of "the people, with all 
its psychological intricacies, aspirations, and 
vanities. 

Taking, as an example, the two addresses 
which Thukydides gives, as made by Brasidas, 
the Spartan commander, we hear a man in- 
spired by all the virtues and stern notions 
of a Lakedsemonian, but also by that kindness 
and forbearance, which distinguished this 
prominent leader in the Peloponnesian War. 

When Brasidas led an expedition against 
Akanthus, the colony of the Andrians, the 
people were divided into two parties as to 
his reception. He urged them to admit him 
alone, and then to decide whether they would 
also admit the Chalkidians, whom he com- 
manded. His request being granted, he 
addressed the people as follows : — 

" The sending out, Akanthians, of myself 
and my army, by the Lakedaemonians, has 
been executed to verify the reason we alleged 
for hostilities at the commencement of them, 
namely, that to liberate Greece we should go 
to war with the Athenians. And if we have 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 171 

been long in coming to you, through being 
disappointed in our expectation regarding the 
war in those parts*, according to which we 
hoped quickly by ourselves, and without any 
risk on your part, to overthrow the Athe- 
nians, let no one find fault with us ; for 
now, when we had an opportunity, we are 
come ; and will endeavour, in concert with 
you, to subdue them. But I am astonished 
at my being shut out of your gates, and that 
my arrival should be unwelcome to any of 
you. For we, Lakedaemonians, as thinking 
that we should come to men who in feeling, 
at any rate, were on our side, even before we 
actually joined them, and that we should be 
welcome to you, ran the great risk of making 
a march of many days through the country 
of strangers, and evinced all possible zeal : 
and now, if you have aught else in mind, or 
if you should stand in the way of your own 
liberty, and that of the rest of the Greeks, it 
would be a hard case. For it is not merely 
that you oppose me yourselves, but of those 
also to whom I may apply, each will be less 
disposed to come over to me, raising a diffi- 
culty on the ground that you, to whom I first 
came, and who are seen in the possession of 
a considerable city, and are considered to be 
prudent men, did not admit me. And I shall 
not be able to prove the credibility of the 
reason (alleged by us for the war), but shall 
be charged with either bringing to them a 
liberty which has an unjust end in view, or 
of having come too weak and powerless to 



172 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. ■ 

assist them against the Athenians, in case of 
their attacking them. And yet when I went 
Th ®. relief with the army I now- have, to the relief of 
Nissea, the Athenians, though more numer- 
ous, were unwilling to en^aore with me ; so 
that it is not likely that, coming with forces 
conveyed by sea, they will send against you 
an army equal in numbers to that at Aissea. 
With regard to myself, too, I have come to 
you, not for the injury, but for the libera- 
tion of the Greeks — having bound the Lake- 
dsernonian authorities by the most solemn 
oaths, that such as I win over shall assuredly 
be independent confederates; nor again that 
we may have allies whom we have got by 
violence or deceit, but, on the contrary, pre- 
pared to act as allies to you, who are enslaved 
by the Athenians. I claim, therefore, neither 
to be suspected myself, since I have given 
Pleads Ms the strongest pledges lor my honesty, nor 
honesty. j^ Q ^ G cons i c l erec [ a powerless avenger; and 

I call on you to come over to me with 
confidence.' 7 

"And if anyone be backward to do so, 
from being personally afraid of some indi- 
vidual or other, lest I should put the city 
into the hands of a particular party — let him, 
above all others, feel confidence. For I am 
not come to be a partizan, nor am I minded 
to bring you a doubtful liberty, as I should 
do, if, disregarding your hereditary consti- 
tution, I should enslave the manv to the 
few, or the few to the many. For that 
would be more grievous than foreign do- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 173 

minion, and towards us Lakedsemonians no 
obligation could be felt for our exertions ; 
but, instead of honour and glory, accusation 
rather. And those charges with which we 
are throwing down the Athenians, we should 
ourselves seem to incur in a more odious 
degree than a party which has shown no pre- 
tensions to honesty. For to gain advantage 
by vile trickery is more disgraceful — at any 
rate, for men in high station — than to do it 
by open violence : since the one is a case of Tri i ckei r 

• ±1 1 -f'lj-l'-LJ? and open 

aggress Lon, on the plea ot migiit, which tor- violence. 
tune has given ; the other, by the insidious- 
ness of a dishonest policy. So great care do 
we take for things which most deeply interest 
us, and in addition to oaths you could not 
receive a greater assurance than in the case 
of men whose actions, when viewed in the 
light of their words, convey a necessary con- 
viction that it is expedient for them to do as 
they have said." 

u But if, when I advance these arguments, Freedom 
you say, that you have not the power to danger, 
comply with them, and yet claim, on the 
strength of your kind wishes, to incur no 
harm by refusing, and allege, that freedom 
does not appear to you unaccompanied with 
danger, and that it is right to offer it to 
those who have the power to accept it, but 
to force it on no one against his will; in that 
case I will take the gods and heroes of your 
country to witness that, after coming for Threatens 
your benefit, I cannot prevail upon you to to compel 
accept it, and will endeavour to compel you by force. 



174 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

by ravaging your country. Nor shall I then 
think that I am doing wrong, but that reason 
is on my side, on the ground of two com- 
pulsory considerations — with regard to the 
Lakedsemonians, that they may not, with all 
your kind feelings towards them, be injured, 
in case of your not being won over to them, 
by means of the money paid by you to the 
Athenians ; and with regard to the Greeks, 
that they may not be prevented by you from 
escaping bondage. For, otherwise, certainly 
we should have no right to act thus ; nor 
are we Lakedsemonians bound to liberate 
On the those who do not wish it, except on the plea 
plea of £ some o-eneral good. Nor is it dominion 
general that we aim at ; bat rather being anxious, as 
good ' we are, to stop others from acquiring it, we 
should wrong the majority if, when bringing 
independence to all, we should permit you 
to stand in the wav of it. Wherefore advise 
well, and strive to be the first to give liberty 
to the Greeks, and to lay up for yourselves 
everlasting glory, and both to avoid suffering 
in your private capacities, and to confer on 
your whole city the most honourable title." 
(See Thukydides, " The History of the 
Peloponnesian War," book iv., 85, 86, 87.) 
Effect From a political point of view, nothing 

of the could surpass this masterly address of a 

^tK J 6ch 01 

Brasidas. determined statesman and soldier, who is 
thoroughly earnest in his desire to check 
tyranny, and to bring freedom to those who 
are ready to join his force. That its effect 
should have been the admission of his army, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 175 

and that the Akanthians should have deter- 
mined to fight against the Athenians, was 
only natural. It is evident that, in the report 
of this oration, Thukydides endeavoured to 
make us acquainted with the very mode of 
thinking and speaking of one of the most dis- 
tinguished leaders in the Peloponne'sian War. 

The second speech of Brasidas is, thousrh Thes fcond 

, , r i i . o speeeh of 

much snorter, even more characteristic, not Brasidas at 
only of the man himself, but of the war, as A 8 m P hl P - 
understood by some of the more noble- 
minded, but, unhappily, not very numerous, 
Spartans. When Brasidas saw the Athe- 
nians approach Amphipolis, he himself en- 
tered the town, and having selected a 
hundred and fifty heavily armed men, 
decided to attack the Athenians suddenly 
before they could retire. He called his 
soldiers together, and addressed them to this 
effect : — 

" Men of the Peloponnesus, with regard to a brief 
the country from which we are come, namely, ^ c ^ ratl0n 
that through its bravery it has always been soldiers. 
a free country, and that you are Dorians 
about to engage with lonians, to whom you 
are habitually superior, let a brief declara- 
tion suffice. But with regard to the present 
attack, I will explain in what way I propose 
making it ; that the fact of your meeting the 
danger in small divisions, and not in one 
body, may not cause a want of courage by 
an appearance of weakness. For I conjecture 
that.it is through contempt of us, and their 
not expecting anyone to march out against 



176 TIIE SCIENCE OF HISTOKY. 

them to battle, that the enemy went up to 
their present position, and are now thinking 
nothing of us, while, without any order, they 
are engaged in looking about them. But 
Duty of a whoever best observes such mistakes in his 
mandei 0m " opponents, and also plans his attack upon 
them, with regard to his own power, not so 
much in an open manner and in regular 
battle-array, as with reference to his present 
advantage, that man would be most success- 
ful. And those stratagems, by which one 
would most deceive his enemies and benefit 
his friends, have the highest reputation. 
While, then, they are still unprepared, yet 
confident, and are thinking, from what I see, 
of retiring rather than remaining; while their 
minds are irresolute, and before their plans 
are more definitely arranged, I will take my 
own division, and surprise them, if I can, by 
falling at full speed on the centre of their forces. 
And do you, Klearidas (the commander of the 
remaining forces), afterwards, when you see 
me now charging, and in all probability 
frightening them, take your division, both 
the Amphipolitans and the other allies, and 
suddenly opening the gates rush out against 
them, and make all haste to close with them 
as quickly as possible. For we may expect 
that in this way they will be most alarmed ; 
since the force which follows up an attack is 
more terrible to an enemy than that which 
is already before him and engaged with him. 
Tells Hm ^ n( j j y OU ^q a brave man yourself, as it is 

brave. natural that you should, being a Spartan; 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 177 

and do ye, allies, follow him courageously ; 
and consider that it is the proof of good 
soldiership to be willing, and to be alive to 
shame, and to obey your commanders. Re- 
flect, too, that on this day you either gain 
your liberty, if you act bravely, and the title 
of confederates of the Lakedsemonians ; or 
are slaves of the Athenians — if you fare as 
well as you possibly can, without being re- 
duced to personal bondage, or put to death 
— and incur a more galling slavery than 
before, while you oppose the liberation of 
the rest of the Greeks. Do not you, then, conclusion 
act as cowards, seeing for how much you are 
struggling ; and I will show you that I am 
not better able to give advice to others, 
than to carry it out in action myself." (See 
Thukydides, " The History of the Pelopon- 
nesian War/ 7 book v. 9.) 

This speech maybe looked upon as a com- Vaiueof 
pendium of strategy for all times. Whether s ™^ ches 
we approve or not of this method of writing from a 
History by introducing persons speaking, as p^o? 1 
on the stage, we must confess that Thuky- view. 
dides does not fall into the error, committed 
by so many Roman, French, and English 
Historians in imitating him, of transforming 
his heroes into lifeless puppets who do not 
speak, according to their special character, 
but recite long orations, too evidently put 
into their mouths by the writers. Readers 
will find in the words of Brasidas the clearest 
expression of his self-reliance, and an in- 
domitable conviction of the superior excel- 



178 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

lence of Spartan institutions. The speaker 
is full of determination, is animated by 
bravery, without showing inordinate pride, 
and is eminently possessed of that repose 
which distinguishes a true man in the pre- 
sence of danger. Nothing artificial can be 
traced in these orations ; not one unnatural 
word, to move his hearers by means of mere 
dialectics, is to be found. Without any affec- 
tation Thukydides himself speaks in the 
sense of Brasidas; it is not an imaginary 
hero, who is made to say things that cannot 
possibly accord with the character of the 
speaker. Almost all ancient and modern 
writers, of any note, agree in praising Thu- 
kydides as one of the greatest Historians. 
Cicero, Dionysius of Halikarnassus, Poppo, 
Creuzer, Rotteck, Becker, and Schlosser, are 
all unanimous in their high estimation of 
his merit. It has even been recorded that 
Demosthenes, the mighty Greek orator, 
copied the works of Thukydides eight or ten 
times. The earnest study of the works of 
such an author must unfailingly benefit all 
who may wish to attempt to write History. 
The third ^^g third great Historian of the Greeks 
Historian was Xenophon, born about 445 B.C. (or, ac- 
of Greece. corc Li n g to others, 431 B.C., 14 years later). 
He stands in the same relation to Thuky- 
dides, as Euripides to Sophokles. -ZEschylus 
and Herodotus were diamonds of the highest 
value, but their brilliance was impaired by 
imperfect cutting ; Sophokles and Thuky- 
dides were jewels of the most refined polish ; 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 179 

whilst Euripides and Xenophon were precious Euripides 
stones, mounted too gaudily and artificially. 
The latter were too strongly influenced by 
forensic and political secondary thoughts. 
Euripides made his heroes vulgar and lo- 
quacious, savouring too strongly of the mar- 
ket-place, and anxious to produce a sensation character- 
at all hazards. Xenophon frequentlv allows ^ tics ° f 

, . . ■* T . f-. A , Xenophon 

ms imagination to outrun his discretion, and as a 
mistakes novel- writing for History. He falls hlstorian - 
already into all the mistakes which are made 
by Koman and English Historians, who only 
see facts in a subjective light. Whether as 
actors in certain historical events, or as mere 
observers of facts, such persons can never 
divest themselves of their particular political, 
religious, or party notions. Euripides and 
Xenophon endeavour to give us a deep in- 
sight into the last years of the Peloponnesian 
struggle. Both shared in the wild intellec- 
tual excitement which characterized Athens, 
during this period of her decline. Arts and 
Sciences exhibited a nervous restlessness. 
Beauty and Truth were no longer the exclu- 
sive aims of artists and philosophers, but a 
wild craving for the sensational inspired 
them. It appeared as though everyone were 
hastening to do his utmost to attain immor- 
tality quickly ; for everyone felt the end to 
be near at hand. The chisel trembled in the 
hands of sculptors ; words gushed from the 
lips of orators; systems abounded in the 
brains of sophists ; Philosophers and Histo- 
rians strove to be exclusively practical, and 

n2 



180 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

only affected to foster the more refined influ- 
xenophon ences of philosophy and poetry. Xenophon 
reflects the as na t ur ally impressed by the spirit of his 

spirit of . J 1 _«/ TT . r , • -I ± 

his times, times. He was not merely a Historian, but 
also a philosopher and poet ; and we often 
find that the Historian loses himself in poeti- 
cal philosophy, or becomes a philosophical 
poet. The writings of even biassed Histo- 
rians, however, are of value ; for in studying 
them carefuljy, and tracing the causes which 
produced such special phenomena in histori- 
cal compositions, we may make ourselves 
acquainted with the true spirit of certain 
periods. 

Xenophon It is said that one day Xenophon was met 

SoLates by Sokrates, the philosopher, in a narrow 
passage. Xenophon was " a beautiful modest 
boy," and Sokrates stopped him and asked 
him "where provisions could be bought?" 
On Xenophon mentioning some place, he 
asked again, " And where are men made 
noble and good ? " Xenophon knew not 
what to say, and the philosopher continued, 
1 ' Well, then, follow me and learn." Xenophon 
obeyed, and became from that time the dis- 
ciple of Sokrates. This anecdote is of import- 
ance, so far, that it serves to remind us, that 
in studying the historical writings of Xeno- 
phon, we must not lose sight of the fact that 
he was a passionate admirer of Sokrates, a 
zealous upholder of an entirely new system, 
that preached above all wisdom, justice, and 
piety as the foundations of real, practical 

virtue™ 1 virtue. This philosophy Xenophon recorded 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 181 

in his " Recollections of Sokrates," and en- 
deavoured to practise its precepts as States- 
man, Commander, and Historian. Nothing, 
but what was intelligible and useful, was to 
be an object of man's attention ; and this 
worship of the exclusively practical went so 
far that in his " Recollections" (Memorabilia) Xenopaon, 
he defines patriotism, relationship, friendship, Memor- 
and all higher feelings, as mere properties to f { b * lia ' ° r 
be used, if convenient, for exclusively utili- tions" 
tarian purposes. He describes Sokrat&s as J ecla f®* 

t L . L . n -, . . _ for utiht- 

discoursmg on topics 01 every-day hie, arianism. 
giving utterance to moral precepts, without 
touching any of those sublimer and more 
speculative subjects which Plato makes the 
philosopher consider. Both Herodotus and 
Thukyclides looked upon man in his relation 
to other men and the invisible forces of 
nature with a kind of religious piety ; Xeno- Treats all 
phon, on the other hand, treats all higher sentiments 
sentiments as mere marketable articles, and with scorn. 
compares our better nature to houses, land, 
slaves, or other property, important only 
because convertible into cash. Xenophon 
shows us Greece losing all her ideal and 
noble aspirations, sinking rapidly into a one- 
sided realism, turning human beings into 
mere machines, worked by self-interest. 
Men, at such a time, indulge in small talk, in 
sophistical argument, in practical moralizing, 
and audaciously propound notions on any 
given topic. Xenophon' s writings would not 
have been truthful, had they not reflected 
these shortcomings of his countrymen. 



182 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

basis "" na ~ "^ S m0S ^ charming and most popular work 
is the " Anabasis," which gives us a clear, un- 
pretending account of the March of the Ten 
Thousand through Asia under the command 
of Kyrus, the younger, and the difficulties 
they had to surmount in their retreat after 
Kyrus's death. Xenophon's experience did 
not fail to perceive the weakness of the un- 
wieldy Persian Empire, and the utter incapa- 
city of its troops and officers, and he firmly 
believed that its conquest presented a com- 
paratively easy task to the Greeks. 

In the " Anabasis" Xenophon has de- 
scribed one of the most brilliant episodes of 
Greek military history. In clearly exposing 
the secret of the utter weakness of the so- 
called mighty Persian Empire, he at the same 
time inspired Agesilaus, Jasdn of Pherae, and 
others down to Philip and Alexander, with 
the belief " that they could at any moment 
succeed in overthrowing the Persian power. 
For two generations Persia maintained an 
influence over the affairs of Greece, by subsi- 
dising one state against another. But when 
all the Greek States had fallen under the rule 
of Makedonia, her hour struck. Alexander 
the Great went forth to conquer Persia, 
and, with his conquest, the face of the world 
and the course of History were altogether 
changed." Nothing can be clearer, than 
that the revelations of Xenophon had taken 
hold of Alexander's mind, and that the 
idea of the expedition into Asia, sprang 
originally from the " Anabasis." (See 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 183 

" Xenophon," by Sir Alexander Grant, Bart., 
LL.D., Principal of the University of Edin- 
burgh, page 55). 

Next in interest is the " Kyrop^dia," 2 - " K ,y r °- 
the History of the Life of Kyrus the elder. pae ia ' 
In no work can we trace so definitely 
the task which Xenophon assigned to 
himself as a Historian. Cicero said of it 
that it was written, "non ad histories Jidem, 
sed ad effigiem justi imperii" (not to be faith- 
ful to History, but to give a picture of a 
just Government). There can be no doubt 
that Xenophon's Kyropaedia is the first ^first" 1 
historical romance ever written. What Sir historical 
Walter Scott achieved in his memorable writer. 
novels, Xenophon attempted in this work. 
To be dry and accurate, to keep only to 
known facts, to discriminate between possi- 
bilities and improbabilities, was not to the 
taste of the people, and Xenophon wished to 
be useful. He chose a form in which he 
could impress the Greeks, and gave a descrip- 
tion of a model ruler, according to Sokratian 
notions, and called this sovereign Kvrus. Xenophon, 

- *^ "WTSnPS to 

Xenophon wanted to see one gifted, intel- see one 
lectual, kind-hearted, and just man at the ^d^the 
head of the State, ruling the millions of his State. 
people, and leading them to perfect happiness. 
Such ideas were only possible at a time when 
the Democracies of Greece had failed. One 
ideal ruler was to be the panacea against 
quarrelling states and unruly demagogues. Herodotus 

At the time of Herodotus, when the inde- ™ of » 
pendent spirit of Greece had not yet been opinion. 



184 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

undermined and broken ; when the relation 
between morals and intellect had not yet 
been altogether unsettled, everyone would 
have been indignant at the idea of entrusting 
one man with the welfare of millions of self- 
conscious and free citizens. When Herodo- 
tus strove to reconcile his readers to the 
incomprehensible caprices of fate, or sought 
to comfort them in the face of the horrifying 
amount of misery, crime, and misfortune, 
continually disturbing their happiness ; he 
certainly did not attempt to create an ideal 
Monarch, who, endowed with supreme power, 
standing above law, right, and peace, was 
to be made master of all the passions and 
thoughts of his people, "to spread over his 
empire the blessings of a wholesome sleep." 
On the contrary, the work of Herodotus 
contains on every page proofs, that the best 
constitution would be one in which every 
citizen felt his own individual freedom, and 
submitted to the eternal laws of nature and 
Self- society, not to the changeable wisdom of 
raenTthe single individuals. A nation that rules itself 

Herodotus was ^ e beau-ideal °f Herodotus. 

Xenophon wished to set up a visible deity 
on earth, ruling a kind of Arkadia, as an 
ideal shepherd, transforming self-conscious 
and free men into a flock of meek and mild, 
tame and obedient sheep. Herodotus speaks 
of Nemesis, and revenge, of an incompre- 
hensible fate, of the envy of the gods ; he 
often hints that happiness is misfortune, that 
chance rules the mightiest, that there i$ no 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 185 

stability in prosperity, and that the higher we 
stand, the deeper we fall. He constantly 
gives utterance to these and similar " nur- 
sery " notions, that have poisoned the intel- 
lectual atmosphere of humanity for thousands 
of years, and have been transferred to various 
religious sects. Even under these mystic, 
capricious, fatalistic powers, however, man, 
with Herodotus, and in a still higher degree 
with Thukydides, was to be a free agent; 
while Xenophon assumed diametrically op- Causes of 
posed views. The pernicious, enervating different 
spirit of the East had already blasted all the vi ? ws 
higher energies of the Greeks. Free Greeks xenophon 
degraded themselves to serve in the armies 
of their very enemies for pay. Reason gave 
way to the subtle use of a distorted, refined 
intellect, and the living spirit of philosophy 
to dead moral conventionalities. Everything 
higher and nobler had to yield to outward 
formalities, and a well- calculated utilitarian- 
ism. It is not astonishing to find that, under 
such conditions, the people yearned for the 
unchangeable order of hierarchical institu- 
tions. For the historian knows, only too well, 
that such a social condition must be ante- 
cedent, whenever freedom is to give way to 
a paternal despotism. Active vitality having 
fled from the state-body of free citizens ; 
anarchy, bloodshed, and murder having taken 
the place of order, and the love of arts and 
sciences ; each man was eager to see a fixed 
place assigned to everyone in the state, and 
to escape the trouble of doing this himself, 



186 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

was willing to endow any Monocrat with un- 
limited power. 
Analogy This was the gradual development that 
Grelce and led the French nation from the misdeeds of 
France. a sanguinary Republicanism to Napoleon 
Bonaparte's autocratic imperialism. Nothing 
can be more interesting than to compare 
such transitionary states of different societies 
at different periods, and to note the marvel- 
lous analogy in the results. These analogies 
extend even to the literary products of various 
periods under certain conditions. Thus we 
find that in Greece Xenophon wrote his 
"Kyropsedia," whilst about 2,099 years later 
Feneion Fenelon composed his "Tel^rnaque" under 
"Teilma- similar circumstances. To counteract the 
que." dissolute state of society in Greece, under 
anarchical governments, was the aim of 
Xenophon ; to check the vain tendencies of 
a heartless court-life, and to restrain the 
longing for warlike fame under Louis XIV. 
in France, was the honourable task of F&ielon. 
According to the celebrated German His- 
Professor torian, Frederick Christopher Schlosser, both 
Schiosser wor k s h ave certain merits in common. 
Xenophon " Fenelon stands, however, in a less advan- 
Feneion. tageous position than Xenophon, because 
he placed his novel in the Homeric times, 
which are better known to modern readers 
than the Persian institutions, described by 
Xenophon, were to the ancient Greeks. The 
novelistic treatment of Fenelon strikes the 
thoughtful reader more painfully, than that of 
Xenophon, who had the opportunity of seeing 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 187 

personally the land and the people of which 
his countrymen knew but little. He could, 
therefore, insert as much of the customs and 
institutions of the Persians, as also of their 
real history, as he thought necessary for 
the general purpose of his work." It is very 
characteristic of Xenophon that, having dis- 
closed in his " Anabasis " the sunken state 
of the Persians, he should not have perceived 
that in extolling Kyrus as the founder of such 
an empire, he was praising the very cause of 
that effete State-organization, which enabled 
10,000 free Greek citizens to defeat the 
enormous armies of these autocratically -ruled 
slaves, who could obey, but, deprived of all 
higher consciousness of the dignity of free 
men, were an inert mass — a lifeless machine, 
that was shattered to pieces by its first con- 
tact with a people's intellectual force. 

The " Anabasis" is entirely different in Difference 
style as well as in tendency from the " Kyro- tne Ween 
psedia." Xenophon, who himself commanded "EyropsB- 
the Retreat of the Ten Thousand, wrote "Anaba- 
the book from his own diaries. We see the sis -" 
Greeks, far away from their homes, in all 
their light-heartedness, with all their generous 
impulses, in colours quite different from those 
in which they appear when Kyrus is held up 
as the model of perfection by whom Greece 
is to be ruled. The writer of the " Anabasis " 
is naturally occupied exclusively with his sub- 
ject. He has no time to make long rhetori- 
cal discourses, and gives us a true description 
of facts 3 and not a distortion of them, in order 



writer. 



188 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Causes of to advocate certain political opinions. The 
differences cause °f this peculiar contradiction in the 
in one and same writer may be found in the different 
ti same positions which he occupied. Far away from 
the seat of Greek art and learning, in the 
midst of barbarous Oriental tribes, sweet 
recollections of his highly-cultivated country 
forced themselves on Xenophon ; the more 
strongly, the farther he left Greece behind him. 
This love of home, and the subsequent long- 
ing to return to it, gave a totally different 
character to the " Anabasis," inspired every 
line the author wrote, and made his work 
the very best Greek historical composition. 
Filled with objective thoughts, and under the 
influence of important outward impressions, 
Xenophon's subjectivity lost itself altogether 
in sublime modesty. Not he, the commander, 
stands prominently forward, but the facts 
themselves, and the nation, are taken into 
account, and the writer is only indirectly men- 
tioned as one citizen of the glorious nation. 
Further on, in treating of Roman Historians, 
and especially of Julius Caesar, and his 
" Commentaries," a work similar to Xeno- 
phon's " Anabasis," we purpose pointing out 
the difference between the two compositions. 
Whenever Xenophon did not lose himself in 
philosophical abstractions, but remained on 
practical ground, he fulfilled the arduous 
duties of a historian with skill and praise- 
worthy geniality. 

The contrast between Xenophon, the real- 
istic historian, and Xenophon, the idealistic 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 189 

partizan, is most strikingly evident in com- The 
paring the " Anabasis " with his " History of ofQ^^ 7 ** 
Greece;'' a daring attempt to continue the (Heiien-' 
account of the Peloponnesian War, from the lcs) * 
period, where Thukydides left it, down to 
the battle of Mantinea. Prejudiced against 
the Athenians and Thebans, and partial to the 
Spartans, Xenophon uses facts, without any 
regard for truth, merely as a means to prove 
his own narrow-minded views. This is the 
very worst mistake a historian can commit. 
Throughout the whole of this book Xeno- 
phon is unctuous, persuasive, affectedly kind, 
and reserved, anxious, not to give us His- 
tory, but to ventilate his own political views. 

Herodotus treated History as a kind of Character 
revelation, manifesting itself in the flowing L " 



tmctions 

course of events, under the mystic rule of between 

n i Herodotus, 

late. ^ Thukydi- 

Thukydides raised History a degree !^ s > ai i d 
higher. With him, historical events were ei - 
but a means to discover the hidden inner 
nature of man, as a self-conscious and free 
agent. He was critical, and conscientiously 
considered facts from all sides, refraining 
from giving to them any subjective colouring. 

Xenophon finally had no general, but only 
a particular, social or political aim in view. 
He was, if we except the " Anabasis," dis- Xenophon 
tinctly a specialist. He has served as the I s . ,. x 
model historian of Roman, French, and Eng- 
lish writers ; for with them history was to be 
used for the glorification of a special hero, 
the promotion of a political principle, the 



190 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

furtherance of some national enterprise, the 
interests of some party, or the extolling 
of some religious sect. Histories written 
from such a point of view are only so far 
of value that they enable us to study partial 
views, which we must correct, in ascertain- 
ing and allowing for the causes that pro- 
Speciaiists, duced their enunciation. Specialists, by 
very eir their very nature, are rarely reliable his- 
nature,are torians. Thev must necessarily disguise all 
reliable facts that clash with their special views. 
Historians r p} ie y suppress them, and pass them over in 
silence ; or, if less conscientious, altogether 
distort them. This is exactly what Xeno- 
phon did ; and his example has been followed 
by nearly all the Roman, French, and Eng- 
lish historical writers, with some glorious 
exceptions, which we shall mention in their 
proper places. Xenophon wrote in favour 
of the Spartans and their institutions. He 
could see nothing good in the Athenians, 
and treated Alkibiades with contempt, simply 
because he was not a Spartan. On the other 
hand, he extols the treacherous Lysander, in 
spite of his deceitful collusion with Thera- 
menes ; excuses his misdeeds ; blames the 
Oligarchs of Athens ; and omits all mention 
of the secret help which Lysander gave to 
these tyrants in oppressing the people. In 
describing the conspiracy against Agesilaus 
(King of Sparta), he is silent with reference to 
the terrible cruelties of the Spartan Oligarchs 
that gave rise to it ; and yet, so keen an 
observer as Xenophon ought to have known 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 191 

the disturbing causes that produced the con- 
spiracy to free Sparta from an intolerable 
despotism. Thukydides treated such pheno- P^tJau- 

1 1-nn i - -j_ tt • kydides 

mena m a very different spirit. He impar- treated 
tially endeavoured to trace the most minute °? r tam 

, ill ii pt pneno- 

crrcumstances, that could nave led to a feeling mena in 
of dissatisfaction, and entered into the social Hltsor y- 
and political organization of the government; 
making us acquainted with its true character, 
as the very cause of such conspiracies. The 
" History of Greece," by Xenophon, is really 
a mere biography of King Agesilaus ; every- 
thing in his favour is recorded — nothing that 
might injure his character is mentioned. The 
twenty years, during which the Thebans 
attained the greatest power in Greece, are 
scarcely touched upon; Pelopidas and Epami- 
nondas, who were the direct instruments of 
destroying Sparta's supremacy in Greece, 
are mentioned with scornful neglect. 

We have pointed out these shortcomings Why we 
in Xenophon, because this talented Greek ^short- 
writer served as a model, for not less than comings of 
2,200 years, to all those who used History, en °P hon - 
as a means to propagate falsehood ; ignoring 
whole nations and their influences on the 
destinies of mankind ; inventing legends and 
miraculous facts ; but neglecting to give us 
an impartial insight into the destinies of 
humanity. 

Xenophon possessed peculiar merits, as a Special 
philosophical and historical poet. He repre- xenophon 
sents with great skill, characters which afford as a 
us a deep insight into the different parties Historian. 



192 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

that ruled Greece. Describing the negotia- 
tions for peace between the Spartans and 
Athenians, he introduces three ambassadors 
pleading the cause of Athens; and though their 
speeches may never have been delivered, they 
are masterpieces of dramatic composition. 

The first to speak was Kallias, a noble 
Athenian, and a priest, torchbearer in the 
mysteries of Demeter (a very high and hon- 
ourable office); the second was Autokles, 
a violent and passionate Demagogue, con- 
sidered a skilful orator ; and the third, Kal- 
listratus, a man of great learning, and an 
accomplished politician and statesman. 
Speech of Kallias said: "The office of public host, 
nobleman 6 men °^ Lakedaemon, by which I am con- 
and priest, nected with you, I am not the only one of 
my family that has held; for my father's 
father had it, and left it as hereditary to his 
family. I wish also to mention to you how 
our country has always felt towards us : for 
when there is war, it chooses us as com- 
manders; and when it desires quiet, sends us 
out as peacemakers. I have, indeed, been 
twice before at Lakedaemon for the purpose of 
putting an end to war, and, in both my embas- 
sies made peace between you and us ; and I 
now come a third time, and think that I may 
far more justly than ever hope to effect a re- 
conciliation ; for I see that you do not think 
one thing and we another, but that you and 
we are alike indignant at the ruin of Plataea 
and Thespise. How can it be otherwise than 
fit, then, that men who entertain the same 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 193 

feeling, should be friends, rather than enemies 
to each other ? " 

u It is indeed the part of wise men, even if 
little differences of opinion arise between 
them, not to have recourse to war, and, if we 
entirely agree in opinion, would it not be 
one of the strangest of things, that we should 
not make peace ? It would be just, let me 
say, that we should never bear arms against 
each other, since Triptole'mus, our ancestor, 
is said to have communicated the secret 
mysteries of Demet£r and Persephone to 
Herakles, your earliest chief, and to the 
Dioskuri your countrymen, first of all 
foreigners, and to have bestowed the seed of 
the fruits of Demeter on the Peloponnesus 
before any other country. How, therefore, is 
it just, either that you should ever come to 
lay waste the crops of those from whom you 
received seed, or that we should not wish as 
great abundance of food as possible to arise 
to those to whom we gave seed ? And, if it 
is appointed by the gods that wars must be 
among mankind, it at least becomes us to 
commence hostilities with the utmost tardi- 
ness, and, when they are commenced, to 
bring them to an end as soon as we can." 

This is eminently the speech of a rich man character, 
of noble family, a priest, and one of those the^eech 
who like to praise themselves, and to hear of Kaiiias. 
their praises sung by others. His words are 
characteristic of all those inflated talkers, 
who, having no merits of their own, boast of 
the influence of their family, and of the office 



194 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

which they have inherited from their fathers 
father. Kallias does not allude to the critical 
political position of his country, but enlarges 
on the number of times he has been deputed to 
make peace, and on the fact that members of 
his family have been appointed commanders 
in time of war. So far, he speaks as a noble- 
man. He next proceeds to theological argu- 
ment, and points out that both Spartans and 
Athenians have the same religious notions, 
and asserts that, even if the gods were to 
decree war, men ought to bring the struggle 
to an end as speedily as possible — a remark 
not very deferential to the power of the gods. 
We recognize in Kallias, an orator who 
speaks for the mere sake of speaking, and 
whose noble family position, and pompous 
authority as a priest, constitute his only 
claims to be heard. 

The speech After him, Autokles stepped forward, and 

Autokies thus addressed the Lakedsemonians and 

the dema- their allies : — 

gogue. u j am no ^. ig noran ^ men f Lakedsemon, 

that what I am to say to you will not be 
spoken to your gratification ; but it appears 
to me, that those who wish the friendship 
which they form to have the longest possible 
duration, should impress upon one another 
the causes of previous wars. You are always 
saying, that the cities ought to be indepen- 
dent, yet you yourselves are the greatest 
obstruction to their independence; for you 
make this the first condition with people 
received into alliance with you, that they 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 195 

follow wherever you lead them ; and how is 
such a condition consistent with indepen- 
dence ? You make enemies without consult- 
ing your allies, and then lead your allies to 
make war upon your enemies ; so that those 
who are said to be independent are often 
compelled to take the field against people 
who are their greatest friends." 

" But what is the most adverse of all 
things to independence, you establish in 
some cities governments of Ten, and in others 
governments of Thirty ; and you look to these 
governors, not that they may rule the cities 
with justice, but that they may secure them 
by force ; so that you appear to find more 
pleasure in tyrannies than in republics. 
When the King of Persia, too, desired that the 
cities should be independent, you appeared 
plainly of opinion that if the Thibans did not 
allow each city to govern itself, and to use 
whatever laws it pleased, they would not act 
in accordance with the king's letter; but, when 
you got possession of the citadel of Thebes, 
you did not allow even the Thebans them- 
selves to be independent. But it is not the 
part of those who would be friends, to be 
anxious to obtain justice from others, and to 
appear on their own part making as great 
encroachments as they can." 

Kallias was full of pride and self-conceit. Character 
Autokles, on the other hand, is influenced sp^tf 1110 
by violent passion and personal ambition, made by 
though he apparently defends freedom and Autokles - 
independence. He was an adept in excit- 

o 2 



196 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

ing the masses, and succeeded, even at this 
solemn moment, in arousing the feelings of 
those who were opposed to the Lakedsemo- 
nians. Xenophon, in drawing this charac- 
ter, sought to show that nations ought not to 
be led by passionate and violent men, who 
can never master their individual feelings or 
sacrifice their personal antipathies or sympa- 
thies to the general welfare of their country. 
Such politicians try to sow dissension, where 
union is required ; and, when matters of the 
highest importance are at stake, endeavour, 
in a mean spirit of egotism, to abuse and 
vilify their opponents, without any regard for 
the common weal. In addressing the Spar- 
tans, as a peacemaker, Autokles reproaches 
them with treachery and tyranny. Instead of 
reconciling them, he only widens the breach 
between the Spartans and their allies and 
the Athenians ; and thus, instead of serving 
his country's cause, only damages it. Both 
Kallias and Autokles are examples of the man- 
ner in which an assembly, charged with in- 
flammable political material, should not be 
addressed ; whilst the third ambassador, Kal- 
listratus, is certainly meant to represent a 
clever and wise negotiator at a highly critical 
moment. He addresses the congress in the 
following words : — 
The speech " That there have not been faults, men 
traui a s llis " °f Lakedsemon, both on our side and on yours, 
I do not imagine that I can assert; yet I 
am not of opinion that we must have no 
further dealings with those who have done 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 197 

wrong; for I see no human being passing 
through life without error; and sometimes 
men who have done wrong appear to me to 
become more discreet, especially if they have 
been punished by their errors, as we have 
been. To you yourselves, also, I see that 
many retaliations have at times occurred from 
imprudent actions, amongst which was the 
seizure of the citadel at Thelbes ; since now 
indeed, zealous as you were that the cities 
should be independent, they have all, since 
the Thebans were wronged, put themselves 
again into their hands ; so that I now hope 
that you, being taught how profitless en- 
croachment is, will conduct yourselves with 
moderation in mutual friendship." 

"As to what some, who wish to prevent 
peace, insinuate against us, intimating that 
we are come hither, not to seek your friend- 
ship, but from fear that Antalkidas may have 
come with money from the king, consider 
how foolishly they talk ; for the king wrote 
that all the cities in Greece should be free; 
and why should we, then, who conform in 
word and deed to the wishes of the king, 
apprehend anything from him? Or does 
anyone think that the king desires, at a vast 
expense of money, to make others great, 
rather than that which he deems best should 
be effected for him without expense? But 
why, then, are we come ? That we do not 
come from distress, you may know by look- 
ing, if you please, to the state of our affairs 
at sea, and also, if you please, to the state of 



198 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

our affairs by land, at the present time. 
What, therefore, is the cause of our coming ? 
It is plain that some of our allies are doing 
rather what is unpleasing to us, than what is 
pleasing to you ; and perhaps we may wish 
to communicate to you what we have clearly 
perceived, in return for your preservation of 
us. But, that I may still confine myself to 
the mention of what is advantageous, there 
are, among all the cities, some favourable to 
your interests, and some to ours; in every 
city one party declares for the Lakedsemo- 
nians, and another for the Athenians. But 
if we become friends, from whom can we 
fairly expect any effectual opposition ? Who, 
when you are our friends, will be able to 
molest us by land ? Or who, when we are your 
supporters, will be able to hurt you by sea ? " 
" That wars arise from time to time, and 
are brought to an end, we all know ; and we 
are conscious that we all shall, at some time, 
desire peace, even if we do not desire it now. 
Why, then, should we wait for that period, 
when we shall be exhausted by a series of 
disasters, and not rather make peace at once, 
before any irremediable evil overtakes us ? 
For my part, I can neither commend those 
persons, who, having become competitors in 
public games, and having gained reputation 
by several victories, are so fond of contention, 
that they will not cease from it until they are 
beaten and forced to relinquish their profes- 
sion ; nor can I praise those gamesters, who, 
if they are lucky in one trial, play for double 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 199 

stakes ; for I see that the greater part of such 
adventurers sink into utter destitution. Con- 
templating these examples, it is incumbent 
on us never to reduce ourselves to such a 
struggle, that we must either gain all or lose 
all, but to become, while we are yet strong 
and prosperous, friends to one another ; for 
thus we, with your support, and you, with 
ours, may prove still more powerful in Greece 
than has ever been the case in past times." 
(See " Hellenics," by Xenophon, book vi. 
chap. 3.) 

Without passion, with strict impartiality, P^™ ^ 
Kallistratus considers the position of the two the speech 
parties ; neither boasts of the power of his xafiistra- 
own people, nor underrates that of the Spar- tus. 
tans, and succeeds in effacing the bad im- 
pressions which the addresses of his two 
colleagues must have made. He fairly esti- 
mates the position of Athens on the sea, and 
that of Sparta on land ; and neither party 
could fail to appreciate his pleading for 
peace and friendship between the two forces, 
on the ground that, united, they need fear no 
adversary. Knowledge of the situation, calm 
reflection, sound and patriotic reasoning, 
distinguish this brief and, from a diplomatic 
point of view, masterly speech, which stamps 
Kallistratus one of the greatest statesmen. 4 & 5. 

We do not intend to treat the " Recollec- cotoctiont 
tions of Sokrates," and the u Banquet," by of 
Xenophon as minutely as his historical an/thf' 
works. The " Recollections " are so far im- "Ban- 
portant that they present the great Greek xenophon. 



200 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. ' 

philosopher, Sokrates, in an entirely different 
light than the Dialogues of Plato. One noble 
aim animates the pages of both compositions 
— the grateful pupil wishes to defend his 
master's fame from all calumny. Sokrates, 
in Xenophon's writings, is not so loftily ideal 
as in Plato's "Phaedon," in which virtue 
and all higher morality are based on a theo- 
retical knowledge. Xenophon ignores this 
theoretical part, and exclusively clings to the 
practice of virtue. He strives to hold up 
Sokrates, in his humility, cheerfulness, kind- 
ness, frugality, and geniality, as the model 
of a wise, influential, and practical thinker. 
Xenophon describes Sokrates in his every- 
day life, capable of enjoying existence, and 
even a good supper, in the company of 
merry friends. Plato shows him only on the 
heights of speculative reasoning, whence 
the gigantic mind of the philosopher scarcely 
ever deigns to descend. In Xenophon, we 
have the man, Sokrates; in Plato, his soul. 
In reading the two descriptions side by side, 
we may form a complete picture of that man, 
whom Apollo at Delphi had pronounced 
" the wisest of men" and who himself came to 
the conclusion "that the god called him 
wisest, because, though knowing no more 
than other men, he alone was conscious to 
himself of his own ignorance." 
e. " Apo- In addition to the above-mentioned works 

SoSatis." °^ g" rea ^ er pretensions, we possess of Xeno- 
phon, many essays of minor importance, 
proving the wide range of his talents, and the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 201 

superficial versatility with which he was able 
to touch upon any given subject. In the 
"'Apology of Sokrates" he defends his old 
master. u Agesilaus" is what is termed an 7."Agesi- 
" Eloge," in French, a partial pleading in aus ' 
praise of his favourite king. " The Consti- 8. "The 
tution of Athens" was written to expose its tionof U " 
weakness and faulty organization, whilst Athens." 
the " Constitution of Sparta" was intended 9. "The 
to prove the superiority of the latter, as tionof 
a means for promoting the welfare of the Sparta." 
people. To show the many different subjects 
embraced by Xenophon, we must mention 
his Politico-Economical writings, "Ontheio. "On 
Eevenues of Athens" and " On Domestic Avenues 
Economy." In the former he tries to teach of 
the Athenians how to increase their receipts. ^ Tq u 
In the latter (in two dialogues), a Greek Domestic^ 
master of a household is fully instructed conomy 
in the management of his affairs. The work 
is written with great care, and an evident 
desire to be thoroughly useful. It was very 
popular in ancient classic times, and Cicero 
translated it into Latin. 

The "Hiero" is a treatise, in dialogue *2- "T he 
form, on the characteristics of a despotic 
government. 

The "Hipparchikos" contains instructions 13. «Hipp- 

n i 7V» archikos" 

tor cavalry omcers. 

The " Horsemanship " is an essay on buy- u. On 
ing, keeping, treating, breeding, and riding ^anship"' ' 
the horse; and we do not think that the hints, 
here given, have ever been superseded by 
better suggestions. 



202 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

is. On On " Hunting" (Kynegetikos) is not 

1 merely an enthusiastic description of the 



tog." 



delights of the chase, but a valuable disser- 
tation on the necessity of training the youth 
of Greece in manly sports, so as to equally 
develop body and mind. 

" Letters" and other smaller writings have 
been attributed to Xenophon; but they are 
generally of doubtful authenticity, and may 
perhaps be most safely looked upon as 
spurious. 
General In Xenophon we have a genuine reflector 
remarks on f G ree k life during the troubled latter period 
the His- ' of the Peloponn&sian war. To bring a kind 
p™ and of mechanical order into the State-organi- 
pher. zation, by means of historical descriptions, 
was the principal aim of Xenophon. Order 
was to be established at any price ; and this 
accounted for his preference for the military 
institutions of Sparta, which subordinated the 
individual to the interests of the community, 
and destroyed all the liberty of the surround- 
ing states. Despotism, securing peace, was 
with him better than Republicanism leading 
to dissensions. The very appreciation of 
freedom had fled from Greece. The admin- 
istration of the commonwealth and the com- 
mand of the army were no longer looked 
upon as sacred duties to be performed by the 
wisest and noblest in the State, but as lu- 
crative appointments, serving to enrich the 
officials in power. In his ardent desire to 
counteract these evils, Xenophon lost him- 
self in idle, vague, and incorrect theories as 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 203 

to the means of improving the state of his 
country. Instead of strictly keeping to his 
duties as a Historian, and conscientiously 
tracing facts, and endeavouring to make their 
causes apparent, he filled his books with 
speculative suggestions. He does not give 
us a direct insight into the law of causation, 
according to which events in Greece had 
evolved themselves from the organic con- 
dition of the State ; we only obtain this 
information indirectly. The lofty and truly 
philosophical position, which Thukydid£s 
assigned to History, was sacrificed by Xeno- 
phon to the less important task of propa- 
gating his own subjective, political, and 
moral ideas. History thus ceased to be the 
" Science of Sciences," and was lowered 
to a mere tool, furthering some particular 
secondary object. History became a compila- 
tion of the individual writer's opinions on 
facts, which received their colourings from 
these very opinions. The events do not 
stand out in bold and plastic truthfulness, 
but are laid on in thick pigments on a ground 
chosen by the writer, and filled in at random 
with figures and forms as he may see fit. 

History received at this period a terrible The intro- 
blow, through the introduction of Khetorics, ^torics f 
which were turned by Isokrates into a most by 
important branch of school education. The JeSenl 
phrase, the dialectical handling, and the tech- tai to 
nical marshalling-up of facts for certain lstory# 
purposes, were now all important. Neither 
truthfulness nor a free and unbiassed inquiry 



204 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

into the probability of facts was to be the 
essence of History, but the form and the 
special party object, were to be paramount. For 
centuries Jewish, Roman, French, and Eng- 
lish historians have devoted their best ener- 
gies to this one-sided treatment of History, 
and by this means have transformed it from 
a living entity into a mummy, embalmed 
with prejudices, preconceived theories, false 
dates, and facts, 
circum- We must not, however, overlook the in- 
their esm fl uences °f circumstances, which often drove 
influences the very best talent into this, entirely wrong, 
historical treatment of History. In Greece the dissolu- 
composi- tion of the states brought on the dissolution 
of arts, sciences, and the whole political or- 
The Jews, ganization. With the Jews, national pride 
and religious self-glorification biassed their 
The writers. The Romans and French sacrificed 

Eomans. everything to u their insatiable thirst for 
military fame, t t heir unbounded ambition of 
extending their empire, an extravagant con- 
fidence in their own courage and force, an 
insolent contempt of their enemies, and an 
impetuous overbearing spirit with which they 
pursued all their enterprises." Their his- 
tory was naturally affected by these senti- 
ments ; for their historians could not free 
themselves from the impressions of the intel- 
lectual and social atmosphere in which they 
The lived. The English, isolated by their posi- 
Engiish. tion, and brought up in Jewish and Roman 
ideas, unite a spirit of self- contented religious 
fanaticism with a practical leaning to the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY, 205 

transaction of " business," in whatever shape 
or form, and show in their historians the 
effects of this Hebrew-Roman training which 
has been more especially forced upon the 
masses since the Reformation. True his- 
torians must learn, above all, to detach 
themselves from these religious or local 
national and political influences. So long 
as the Greeks looked upon nature with a 
poetical eye, they saw in History a con- 
nected whole, and studied, through Hero- 
dotus and Thukydides, " man and man aloneP 
When Greece fell into the hands of ambi- 
tious and selfish men, and beneath the rule 
of a mighty monocrat, History became the 
servant of the State. Monocrats and hier- 
archs do not like writers who tell the truth ; 
they will pay historical courtiers, flattering 
biographers, dialectically trained panegy- 
rists, but no historians ever basked in the 
sunshine of thrones. 

History, during the third phase of the de- The third 
velopment of Greece, sank lower and lower. {J e ase of 
From the death of Epaminondas to the battle historical 
of Chseronea, Greece vegetated. The mighty m e Jnt° P f 
Agesilaus, the much praised favourite of Greece. 
Xenophon, finding the spectacle of the misery 
and degradation of his country, which he 
had brought about, unbearable, undertook an 
adventurous expedition against Egypt, and 
died whilst prosecuting this senseless enter- 
prise. Athens waged wars, shedding blood, 
but obtaining no results. Those whom the 
Athenians attempted to subjugate remained 



206 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

independent. There was no longer any hope 
of help or redemption. Philip of Makedon 
understood how to use flattery, threats, gold, 
' iron, cunning, promises, and intrigues, to 
turn Greeks against Greeks. With the 
spoils of one town he purchased the adhesion 
of another more powerful ; he shed the blood 
of one division of the nation to break the 
spirit of the other, and finally to subjugate 
the whole country. Once more the half- 
forgotten cry, '* Freedom and Fatherland ! ' 
dimly and mournfully resounded through the 
ranks of the Greeks; but it was for ever 
stifled by the victorious phalanx on the san- 
The battle guinary battle-field of Chseronea (337 B.C.). 
Chseionea Here ended the social and political indepen- 
dence of Greece. The Greeks began their 
political life with a sacred war, in which the 
youthful Achilles was one of the principal 
leaders ; and they expired in another holy 
Alexander war, under the victorious blows of the youthful 
the Great. Alexander, afterwards the Great! Demos- 
nes. thenes in vain tried to move the hearts of his 
countrymen ; they listened to his masterly 
rhetorical effusions; they even went so far 
as to fight ; but the drama was played out. 
The earnestness of life had succumbed to 
the very ideas which Xenophon had advo- 
cated. The Greeks sighed for peace at any 
price, and they obtained it, at the cost of 
their independence, from a monocrat who 
was generous enough not to trample them 
under foot, but who made use of them as the 
future teachers of humanity. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 207 

Of the second transition period we may Some 
mention the following Greek historians :— f^ ims 

Though the Alexandrian Canon gives us, second 
as the most important historians, only the peno ' 
names of Herodotus, Thukydides, Xenophon, 
Theopompus, Ephorus, Anaximenes, and 
Kallisthenes, we must not omit the follow- 
ing writers, whose works have unfortunately 
been lost, but are continually referred to and 
made use of at subsequent periods. 

(1.) Ktesias, of Knidus, physician of Arta- stasias, of 
xerxes Mnemon, at whose court he lived 
before the battle of Kunaxa, made use of 
Persian archives and State-documents to pro- 
duce a History of Persia, under the title 
of " Persika," in twenty-three books, begin- "Persika." 
ning with Nemus, the assumed founder of 
Nineveh and Semiramis, down to 398 B.C. 
He also wrote a History of India under the 
title of "Indika," but cannot be considered "indika." 
a reliable author. He either lacked the will, 
or the capacity, to sift facts, and his writings, 
which, with the exception of a few frag* 
ments, are lost, were made use of principally 
by Diodorus Siculus, and are full of mythical 
and legendary matter. We do not mean to 
say that he inserted fabulous accounts, know- 
ing them to be impossible. He probably 
had no intention to deceive, but was as yet 
unable to distinguish between the probable 
and improbable, the possible and impossible, 
like so many historians of our own times. 
He did not possess that critical spirit of 
doubt and inquiry, without which no historian 



208 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

ais can hope to succeed. Ktesias often attacks 

stacks on ji er0C L tus in no measured terms. Now 
us. Herodotus had the great merit of stating his 

doubtful facts with extreme caution, and the 
harsh and disparaging epithets applied to 
him by Kt&sias are out of place. In study- 
ing, teaching, and writing History, it is at 
all times our duty to practise charity, and 
to distinguish well between voluntary falsi- 
fications, and inaccuracies in the statement 
of facts which could not possibly have been 
correctly known in their entirety to the au- 
thor. We must, however, condemn with the 
utmost severity all writers who, like many 
in our own times, have every opportunity 
of knowing " the whole truth" and still per- 
sistently cling to obsolete prejudices and 
falsehoods, merely to protect some religious, 
political, or national preconceived notion. 
If Ktesias enjoyed the advantage of con- 
versing with better informed Persians than 
Herodotus, he had no right to accuse the 
latter of falsehood ; for Herodotus confesses 
that he had often to choose one out of four 
different accounts of an occurrence, and it is 
difficult to prove that Ktesias alone knew the 
right one. Historical authenticity is more or 
less open to doubt. So soon as the historian 
touches insignificant details, he may lose him- 
self in a maze of contradictory statements; 
and it will, in such cases, be his duty to state 
the difficulty, and leave the solution an open 
question until more knowledge can be impar- 
tially brought to bear on the doubtful events. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 209 

Ktesias had his merits, for he was the first The merits 
to attempt to write a kind of General or Uni- of Kt ^ i&s - 
versal History, though neither he, nor his 
times were ripe for such an undertaking. A 
historian, who speaks of gold-digging ants 
and griffins, has certainly no right to blame 
another who is imposed upon by authorities, 
whose veracity he could not well have tested. 

2. Antiochus, of Syrakuse, who probably Antiocims, 
lived during the Peloponnesian war, wrote a syrak 



use. 



History of Italy and Sicily. 

3. StESIMBROTUS, of ThaSUS, Composed his Stesimbro- 

historical works about 440 B.C., and also TtasuL 
wrote commentaries on Homer, trying to 
explain the Iliad and Odyssee as allegorical 
compositions. 

4. Kratippus, a contemporary of Thuky- Kratippus. 
dides, continued the History of the Pelopon- 
nesian War, from the point where the latter 

left it, down to the period when Konon re- 
established the supremacy of Athens ; but not 
even fragments of his work are extant. 

5. Philistus, of Syrakuse, was an eye- wit- phiiistus, 
ness of the defeat of the Athenians at Syra- of 
kuse (415 B.C.), and the adviser of Dionysius yra use ' 
the elder, by whom he was banished, but was 
recalled again by Dionysius the younger. 

He wrote a History of Sicily in two sec- 
tions : the first, in twenty-seven books, be- 
ginning with the conquest of Troy, down to 
the capture of Agrigentum ; and the second, 
in four books, treating of the government of 
Dionysius. He also published a biography 
of Dionysius the younger, in two books, fin- 



210 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOKY. 

ished at a later period by Athanis. Suidas 
mentions an " iEgyptiaka,' 1 in twelve books, 
by him. Alexander the Great is said to have 
read his works. Philistus took Thukydides 
for his model, though he is less talented, and 
often very obscure in his style, through an 
affectation of simplicity. 
Theopom- 6. Theopompus, of Chios, born about 378 

Chi'os° f B - c -? was a P u pil °f tne great orator, Iso- 
krates, who is said to have encouraged him 
to write History. He was victorious in a 
competition, instituted by Queen Artemisia, 
of Karia, for the best Funeral Oration on her 
husband, Mausolus. He wrote " Hellenika," 
in twelve books, a continuation of the His- 
tory of Thukydides from the Battle of 
Kynessema to that of Knidos ; and another 
work, totally different from this, in fifty- 
eight books, under the title " Philippika," 
probably a history ending with the death of 
Philip of Makedon. He included in this work 
three books of the History of Sicily, from 
Dionysius the elder to the banishment of 
Dionysius the younger, and is said to have 
made a compendium of the works of Hero- 
dotus in two books. He is favourably men- 
tioned as an orator ; but the ancients differed 
greatly in their estimate of his merits. Some 
praise his style, others accuse him of ill- 
feeling and spite against other writers, whom 
he abuses. He was extremely credulous, 
and did not hesitate to relate miracles as 
facts, and introduced into history a more 
pompous, rhetorical style. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 211 

7. Ephorus, of Kyme, another pupil of E f p ^ oru3 ' 
Isokrates, and a contemporary of Theopom- ° yme ' 
pus, wrote a Universal History of Greeks 
and Barbarians, from the return of the Hera- 
■kleids to the siege of Perinthus (about 340 
B.C.), in thirty books, comprising a period 
of 750 years. He also composed a Life of 
Homer and Commentaries on his poems. He 
is much praised by ancient writers ; Diodorus 
and Plutarch often use him. He is further 
mentioned as an influential orator. 

At this period, History, like everything in- Geogra- 
tellectual at that time, sank lower and lower P hersand 
in the estimation of the Greeks, who took historio- 
no more interest in broader and more ex- § ra P hers - 
panded views. Local myths and legends, 
combined _ with geographical descriptions,' 
with special reference to Attika, superseded 
the historical works of the previous writers. 
The names of places and their origin were 
philologically inquired into, and we have to 
thank the writers of that age for much valu- 
able information with regard to minute local 
and legendary details. 

The most important authors of Greek Folk- 
lore were Hellanikus, of Lesbos ; Klitodemus, 
and Androtion, of Athens ; Hellioclorus, of 
Periegetes; Ister, of Kyrene ; and Philokorus. 
This last was " Hieroskopus" at Athens, and 
left many important works. He wrote com- 
mentaries on Homer, Sophokles, and Euri- 
pides. His most celebrated work was a 
History of Attika, under the title ' < Athis," 
and must have consisted of many books, as 

v 2 



212 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

the nineteenth is mentioned by one of the 

Scholiasts. His work begins with the oldest 

times, and comes down to the reign of King 

Antiochus Deus, of Syria, 261 B.C. These 

writers fill up the gap between Theopompus 

and Polybius. 

change in The valorous deeds of Alexander the 

ception of Gr rea ^ his wanderings and exploits, gave a 

History new impulse to History. Not only eye-wit- 

compoS- nesses, who were dazzled by his brilliant 

tion of achievements, but also those whose imagina- 

historical . . • , -i i i i 1 _£» 

works, tions were excited by mere verbal accounts 01 
through n ^ s prodigious deeds, devoted themselves to 
the Great record the triumphal march of one of the 
tiroes 18 greatest captains the world ever beheld. 
The hero of countless battles, who sped from 
victory to victory ; conquering Phoenicia, 
Palestine, Egypt, Bactria, Sogdiana, Susa, 
Persepolis, Assyria, and Babylon ; extending 
his conquests as far as India; became the 
centre-figure of innumerable historical works, 
which were all more or less filled with an 
idolatrous worship of a mortal, who certainly 
founded one of the mightiest empires of the 
world. 
The period This was the great period of social, reli- 
JnaSon 8a " gious, and political amalgamation. The 
more highly civilized and mentally better 
trained Greeks were brought into contact 
with the less cultivated and more emotional 
spirit of the East. Parsees, Magi, Jewish 
Prophets, Egyptian Hierophants, Brahmans, 
Buddhistic Priests, Gymnosophists, and 
Greek Philosophers met, exchanged ideas, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 213 

and discussed an infinite variety of topics. 
To this intercourse certain forms and dogmas 
of later religious systems must be ascribed ; 
and the Historian will have conscientiously 
to dissolve these component elements, ce- 
mented together by the Ethics of Sokrates 
and the Idealism of Plato. 

The influence of Alexander the Great was influence 
not confined to the construction of roads, the Ai exa nder 
building of towns, or the exchange of mer- the Great, 
chandise and the extension of commerce. 
Arts and sciences were encouraged ; countries 
were topographically and geographically 
studied ; minerals, plants, and animals were 
classified ; men and their customs described ; 
mythological and religious mysteries de- 
ciphered; and poetical and philosophical 
works collected. The mighty Greek, Egyp- 
tian, and Asiatic worlds were materially and 
intellectually united into one vast storehouse 
of learning. All was activity in the realms 
of science, on the arduous path of experience, 
excited by lofty and poetical speculations. 
Alexander the Great has had imitators in 
Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, and Napoleon I. ; 
but the world never witnessed so magnifi- 
cent an outburst of the combined intellectual 
forces of mankind as under Alexander the 
Great, through Aristotle, Xenokrates, Anax- 
archus, and Pyrrho. 

Alexander created on the shores of the The 
Mediterranean a new centre of commerce ^ifex^ 
and learning. The five ports of the town of dria. 
Alexandria received merchandise from all 



214 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

parts of the then known world. The first 
Museum, on a scale never surpassed after- 
wards, and the first great Library, containing 
400,000 volumes, were erected here. Lite- 
rary institutions were founded, in which 
Jewish, Greek, Egyptian, and Indian Philo- 
sophers could exchange ideas and teach; 
being maintained at the expense of the State. 
Here, at a later period, the translation of the 
Hebrew Old Testament into Greek, which 
is known as the " Septuagint," was accom- 
plished. War was used by Alexander the 
Great as a sad means for the production of 
peace and happiness. 

The most distinguished historical writers, 
belonging to this period, whose works have 
unfortunately been lost, are : — 
Leo, of By- ($.) Leo, of Byzantium, a pupil of Plato 
and Aristotle, who wrote on Philosophy and 
History, and Alexander the Great. He was 
celebrated as an orator. 
Kaiiisthe- (b.) Kallisthenes, of Olynthus, a pupil of 
ohntLs Aristotle. He accompanied Alexander the 
Great on his Expedition, and used to read 
with him and Anarchus the poems of Homer. 
He offended the Conqueror by his indepen- 
dence, and by refusing to pay to him divine 
honours ; and it is said that Alexander sen- 
tenced him to death, though this has been 
contradicted. Theophrastus bewailed his 
fate in a special essay. The most important 
works of Kallisthenes bear the titles " Troika," 
" Persika," " Makedonika," " Thrakika," and 
" Hellenika ; " the last, in ten books, embraces 



zantium. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 215 

a period of 300 years, from the Antalkidan 
Peace to the beginning of the Holy War. 
His History of Alexander the Great, and his 
" Makedonika," were the best known. The 
ancients did not consider him a great autho- 
rity ; probably, despite his independent 
spirit, he had to yield too much to the ca- 
prices of his master ; and this made his 
works suspicious, and less reliable. 

(c.) Anaximenes, of Lampsakus, was a pupil Anaxi- 
of Diogenes, of Sinope, and Zoilus. He was Lam 6 psa- f 
a contemporary of Xenophon, Sokrates, Plato, kus. 
and Aristotle. He wrote " Philippika" and 
a History of Greece from the " Theogony 
down to the Battle of Mantinea," in twelve 
books, and owed his great fame as a Historian 
to the latter. He also wrote a systematic 
work on " Khetorics," which has been often 
erroneously attributed to Aristotle. 

(d.) Marsyas, of Pella, son of Periander, Marsyas, 
was brought up with Alexander the Great, ofPelIa - 
and wrote u Makedonika," in ten books. 
Another work, on the Education of Alexander, 
has also been ascribed to him, but its author- 
ship is doubtful, as mention is made of another 
Marsyas, a priest of Herakles, who might have 
been the tutor of Alexander, and the writer 
of the work in question. Diodorus Siculus 
principally used the writings of Marsyas, of 
Pella, and not those of another Marsyas, a 
son of Kritophemus. 

(e.) HlERONYMUS KaRDIANUS, SO Called from Hierony- 

his native town, Kardia, was a friend of xardia- 
Eumenes, Antigonus, Demetrius, and Pyr- nus. 



216 THE SCIENCE OP HISTOEY. 

rhus, and visited Italy with the last. He 
wrote fifty years after the death of Alexander 
the Great, under the government of King 
Antiochus II. He is remarkable as having 
been the first Greek writer who touched upon 
Roman History (301 B.C.). His style was un- 
polished, and was severely criticised by the 
ancients ; Diodorus and Plutarch have, how- 
ever, made use of him. 
Kiitarchus. (/.) Klitarchus, the son of the Historian 
Dino (see below), accompanied Alexander the 
Great, and wrote a History of this King, 
in four books, interspersed with accounts of 
preceding times. His style was inflated, and 
overloaded ; and his accuracy, especially in 
his remarks on India, was very much doubted. 
Aristolm- ((/.) Aristobulus, of Kassandra, was also 
KassaL a follower of Alexander the Great, of whose 
<*ra- Wars he wrote a History. He was considered 
one of the most reliable authorities. He 
attained the age of ninety years, and began 
to write his work when eighty-four years 
of age. 
Ptolemy (A.) Ptolemy Lagus, afterwards first King 
Lagus. Q £ ]£gyp^ after the Alexandrian period, was 
another of the followers of Alexander. Be- 
sides a History of Alexander the Great, he 
wrote a large number of letters, which were 
collected by Dionysidorus Ptolemy. Ptolemy 
was considered one of the most independent 
and trustworthy Historians of that period. 
Diodotus, (i.) Diodotus, of Erythra, compiled the Dia- 
otErythra r » es an( ^ M emoran( i a f Alexander the Great, 

in conjunction with the celebrated General 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 217 

and Historian, Eumenes, of Kardia. (See 
below.) 

(k.) Onesikeitus, of Assy pal sea, a philoso- Onesikri- 
pher, and pupil of Diogenes, of Sinope, was a l^ y °_ 
follower of Alexander, and wrote a work on paisea. 
him. Onesikritus, sent with Nearchus to 
India, was so struck with the country, that he 
recorded at random the most fabulous tilings, 
without any critical and scientific discern- 
ment. In his book on Alexander he affected 
Xenophon's style and composition, and wrote 
a kind of "Alexandropsedia ; " even this work 
was full of miraculous incredibilities. 

(/.) Duris, of Samos, was said to have been Dun?, of 
a descendant of Alkibiades ; he was brought Samos - 
up in the " Peripatetic " School (the School of 
Aristotle), and lived in the times of Ptolemy 
Philadelphus. In addition to critical com- 
mentaries on Sophokles and Euripides, he 
wrote " Makedonika," in fifteen books; and 
a work under the title of " Samian Annuals" 
(Samion oroi), a great History of Greece, 
beginning with the death of Jason the Tyrant 
of Pherse, and Amyntas of Makedon, down to 
his own times. The work consisted of about 
fifty-eight books. His style was adversely 
criticised byDiodorus Siculus. 

(m.) Philippus, of Theangela, one of the Phiiippus, 
retinue of Alexander the Great, of whom he ST , 

> lheangela 

wrote a History. 

(n.) Chares, of Mitylene, who accompanied chares, of 
Alexander the Great, also wrote a History of Mlt y le ~ 
him, and was mentioned byAthenseus, Strabo, 
and Plutarch. 



lene. 



218 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Polykri- 
tus. 



Antigenes. 

Antiklides. 

Diony- 
sius. 



Philo, of 
Thebes. 
Hermip- 
pus. 

Agnothe- 
mis. 

Hegesias. 
Eratosthe- 
nes. 



Dino. 



Lykus, of 
Rhegium. 



Herakli- 

des. 



(o.) Polykritus, mentioned by Strabo and 
Plutarch as one of the Historians of Alexan- 
der. The Polykritus referred to by Pliny 
was of Mendse, in Sicily, and wrote an account 
of the reign of Dionysius, the Tyrant. 

(p.) Antigenes was one of the followers 
and Historians of Alexander. 

(q.) Antiklides accompanied Alexander, 
and wrote a History of him. 

(r.) Dionysius did the same. He may have 
been the Chalkidian Dionysius, who was as- 
sumed to have written five books " On the 
World," but nothing certain is known of him. 

(s.) Philo, of Thebes, 

(t.) Hermippus, 

(u.) Agnothemis, 

(v.) Hegesias, of Magnesia, and 

(w.) Eratosthenes, were all followers of, 
and each wrote a History of Alexander the 
Great. 

(#.) Dino, the father of Klitarchus, was 
mentioned as one of the Historians of Alex- 
ander the Great ; he may not have written 
a special work about him, but probably 
described his reign in his historical work, 
" On Persia." He was looked upon by the 
ancients as a highly reliable authority. 

(y.) Lykus, of Rhegium, born in the camp 
of Alexander the Great, wrote a work on 
Sicily and Lybia, and a History of Alexan- 
der the Great. 

(z.) Heraklides is mentioned by Plutarch 
as one of the Historians of Alexander the 
Great. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 219 

(act.) Nymphis of Heraklea wrote a History Nymphis. 
of Heraklea, in thirteen books, and one of 
Alexander the Great. 

(bb.) Hekatjeus, of Abdera, was in tlie Hekatseus, 
retinue of Ptolemy of Egypt, and is said to of Abdera - 
have composed a History of Alexander the 
Great. He wrote " Egyptiaka," and a work 
on Jewish Antiquities. He must not be con- 
founded with another Hekatseus, of Miletus. 

(cc.) Ephippus, of Olynthus, is mentioned Ephippua, 
by Athenaeus as having written the History oiynthus. 
of Alexander the Great. 

(dd.) Medius accompanied Alexander, was Medius - 
a friend of Antigonus, and wrote Alexander's 
History. 

(ee.) Eumenes ; of Kardia, the celebrated Eumenea, 
general of Alexander, and his private secre- ( 
tary, kept the King's diaries, especially those 
bearing on military affairs. Athenaeus, Cor- 
nelius Neoos, and Lucian refer to him. 

(ff.) Men^echmus, of Sikyon, under Pto- Menaech- 
lemy of Egypt, wrote several works on sikyon. 
Sculpture, and a life of Alexander the Great. 

We have given a very complete list of the Character 
Alexandrian Historians, to demonstrate the Alexander 
immense historical activity with which Alex- the Great * 
ander the Great inspired both his contem- 
poraries, and those who contemplated his 
extraordinary career at a distance. Though 
Historians may have to blame Alexander 
for his ambition, egotism, violence, and un- 
bridled passion, they must admit that he was 
one of the most extraordinary historical phe- 
nomena. It is true that he assisted at the 



220 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

torture of Philotas, and had Parmenio, his 
. most faithful servant, assassinated ; in a fit 
of passion he, with his own hand, killed 
Klitus, his foster-brother, who once saved his 
life; and, as stated above, he had Kallisthenes 
executed, because he refused to worship him, 
in Persian fashion, as a god. At the same 
time, he brought life into the stagnating re- 
gions of Central Asia, and was the direct 
cause of an unparalleled general intellectual 
movement amongst the most different nations. 
He died when thirty- two years of age ; and 
his vast empire, as one great political whole, 
fell to pieces ; but the spirit, with which he 
had endowed the Orient, lived long after him, 
and changed the whole condition of Asia and 
Europe. Some ancient and modern writers 
abuse him as a reckless robber, a wholesale 
murderer, and devastator of huge empires; 
others, again, can find no words sufficiently 
glowing to sing his praise. 
Contra- Such contradictions must surprise the stu- 

to C hS ns aS dents of History, who ought to endeavour to 
character, explain these conflicting statements. Do we 
possess no means of coming to a correct un- 
der standing of such historical phenomena ? 
May we, or may we not, apply to Alexander, 
and, through him, to the whole of his period, 
the eternal law of a disturbed balance in the 
moral and intellectual powers of the ruler 
himself, and the different nations ruled by 
him ? There can be no doubt that the 
whole moral and intellectual condition of 
Greece, Egypt, and Persia was in a dis- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 221 

turbed state. Alexander recognized this with 
the might of his lofty genius. Morally and 
intellectually he was far superior to any 
of his contemporaries, whether kings, com- 
manders, philosophers, or orators. He com- 
bined in himself the very highest qualities of 
an intellect fitted to rule the world. He pos- 
sessed power of thought, quickness of judg- 
ment, and activity of mind. Educated by 
Aristotle, nothing escaped his generalizing 
grasp ; he was as impulsive in generosity as in 
anger, in humane love as in egotistic vanity. 
Here we miss in him the restraining balance 
between intellect and morals ; and this want 
of self-control was the principal cause, why 
Alexander could not personally succeed in 
carrying out his vast plans ; and also ac- 
counts for his having been so contradictorily 
judged by posterity. Some saw in him only 
what was good ; others only what was evil. 
The true Historian, however, must form his 
estimate of a character independently of all 
secondary considerations, and must trace the 
phenomenon to some cause which produced 
that effect, and could not have produced any 
other. Glorified and idolized, worshipped 
and adored, Alexander would not have 
been a creature of his times and nation had 
he freed the people, in our modern sense, 
given liberal constitutions, and exposed the 
whole Asiatic world to new democratic and 
demagogic convulsions. The same cause — ■ 
want of a balance between the static and 
dynamic forces — that produced, in the single 



222 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

person of Alexander the Great, moral in- 
congruities and intellectual inconsistency, 
brought about the collapse of the whole 
Empire. 
The study The study of the Greeks, their gradual 
and its ' growth and decline as a nation, the develop- 
importance nient of their moral and intellectual faculties, 
must form the basis of our higher education. 
For their achievements in arts and politics, 
in philosophy and sciences, are still per- 
meating and fashioning, not only the desti- 
nies, but the very mode of thinking, of the 
whole civilized world. 

Whatever Eome, France, Germany, and 
England have accomplished in their progres- 
sive development in religion, sciences, arts, 
and morals, can be traced back to Greek 
influences. 

Immediately after Alexander's death Greek 
customs and ideas pervaded the foil owing- 
States, which were erected on the ruins of 
the unwieldy Makedonian Empire : — 
Division of 1. Makedonia and Greece, united under 

the Make- a j.' 

doman Antipater. 

Empire. 2. The great Syrian Empire, founded by 
Seleukus. 

3. The Parthian and Jewish Empires. 

4. The Egyptian Empire, under the Pto- 
lemies. 

5. Several Empires in Asia Minor. 
Everywhere Greek thoughts prevailed, and 

produced a higher state of civilization. 
Historians In conclusion we will mention some of 
the most important general Historians who 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 223 

flourished during and after the times of Alex- Alexander 

i , t ^ . the Great. 

ander the break 

Kephisodorus wrote at least twelve books 
on the Holy War for Greek Freedom. 

Aristagoras composed "Egyptiaka" under 
the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus. 

Simonides wrote the Histories of Dion and 
Bion. He is not the same Simonides who, 
according to Pliny, wrote, in the island of 
Meroe, in Egypt, a History of the Ethi- 
opians. 

Palaph^etus, according to Suidas, wrote 
"Kypriaka," " Deliaka," " Attika," and 
"Arabika." 

Athanis, of Syrakuse, recorded the deeds 
of Dion in thirteen books. 

Diokles, of Peparethus, described the 
origin of Rome. 

Timjeus, of Tauromania, in Sicily, who 
attained the age of ninety- six years, wrote 
a history of Pyrrhus. His works were, how- 
ever, full of misstatements and very badly 
written. 

Aratus, of Sikyon, the leader and founder 
of the Achaean Confederation, wrote " Me- 
morabilia" down to the times with which 
Polybius begins his History. Plutarch made 
ample use of this writer. 

Phylarchus lived in the reigns of Ptolemy 
Euergetes and Antiochus Magnus. Amongst 
several other works he wrote a comprehensive 
history, in twenty-eight books, " On the 
Expedition of Pyrrhus, down to the times of 
Ptolemy Euergetes and Berenice," 221 b,c. 



224 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 



Sacred 
records by 
Euemerus. 



Richness 
of the 
historical 
literature 
of Greece. 



Euemerus, of Messene;, was a friend of King 
Kassandra, of Makedon, and wrote " Sacred 
Records," in which he endeavoured to prove 
that all gods had first been men, who had 
been deified by later generations out of gra- 
titude for benefits, bestowed on humanity in 
legislation, political institutions, or warfare. 
In consequence of these views, he was called 
" Atheos." Ennius translated his work into 
Latin, and it was largely quoted by Diodorus 
Siculus. 

Philinus, of Agrigentum, described the 
first Punic War. 

Sosilus, of llion, wrote, in seven books, 
the History of Hannibal, whose master in 
the Greek language he was. 

The historical literature of the Greeks, in 
relation to the short period of their state- 
existence, may fairly be considered one ot 
the richest in the world. It is, to a great 
extent, fragmentary ; as We possess but few 
complete works, and are often compelled to 
obtain our information second-hand, through 
those, who largely quoted from the lost ori- 
ginals. Whether we turn to the remains of 
Greek architecture or sculpture ; the relics 
of their epic, lyric, or dramatic poetry ; their 
stupendous works in the fields of speculative 
or experimental philosophy, from Thales of 
Miletus, Pythagoras, and Demokritus, down 
to Plato, Aristotle, and Pyrrho, we find the 
Greeks everywhere taking the lead. From 
the times of Lykurgus and Solon, down to 
146 B.C., when the Achaean league was broken 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 225 

up by the iron hand of the Romans, the 
Greeks consciously and unconsciously pro- 
moted the great task of civilization. When 
they lost, through vanity and national dis- 
sensions, the power of balancing the two 
forces working in humanity, the inexorable 
law of causation hurled them into utter ruin. 
The first awakening to a consciousness 
of the two forces working in Humanity, can 
be most distinctly traced in the Greeks. The 
age of Perikles, after the Persian wars, was 
a period in which the two forces were well 
balanced, and the Greeks then produced 
their immortal works of Art and Science. 
This balance was not, however, maintained, 
and the conflict between the two forces 
accelerated the decline and downfall of 
Greece, as the relations between morals and 
intellect became more and more disturbed. 
Greek History thus serves us as the key 
for the solution of all further historical 
phenomena. 



226 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Rome and 

the 

Romans. 



Amongst the ancient nations, the Romans 
stand next to the Greeks in importance. 
Their social and political development was 
entirely different from that of the Greeks, 
and yet it was exclusively under Greek in- 
fluences that they reached a higher state of 
civilization. That Romans and Greeks were 
the offsprings of one and the same Aryan 
group of humanity, can no longer be doubted. 
In dealing with Rome, we in reality treat of 
another part of that European geographical 
centre which we described above (page 62). 
The slow and gradual progress of nations is 
most distinctly visible at all times in History. 
Sudden, spasmodic changes are unusual phe- 
nomena, that take place under some foreign 
influences, and often cease as suddenly, as 
they began ; but the normal evolution moves 
in a wave-line with progressive and retro- 
gressive curves. What Historians often call 
"Modern History," relates simply to the 
formation of new circles of culture on old 
principles, which have been revived in other 
times, under totally different conditions, and 
have, therefore, produced totally different 
results. 

The situation of Italy has some analogies 

g osFtion al f witn tnat of Gr reece - Tlie peninsula, stretch- 
iiaiy. ing into the sea, is small and long, formed by 



Sudden 
changes 
are 
unusual. 



The geo- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 227 

the mountain-chain of the Apennines, which, 
originating in the Western Alps, branches off 
towards the south. These mountains divide 
the peninsula into two unequal portions, form- 
ing a smaller eastern shore, and a broader 
western lowland. They attain their greatest 
height in the south-west, and, after a bend, 
separate into a sloping south-eastern, and a 
steep southern ridge, forming two small penin- 
sulas. The plain of the P6 did not belong 
geographically to that Italy of which we have 
to treat at present, although it was politically 
added at a later period. It was called " Gallia 
Cisalpina," meaning Gaul on this (the Roman) 
side of the Alps. Etruria, Latium, and Cam- 
pania, on the western shores, formed a terri- 
tory intersected by rivers and undulating 
hills, cut up into numerous valleys and har- 
bours by volcanic convulsions, and were the 
real nucleus of Italy. To this must be added 
the island of Sicily, which occupied much the 
same position, with regard to Italy, that the 
Peloponnesus did to Greece. Though a penin- 
sula, like Greece, Italy had a much smaller 
number of coast-miles ; the numerous sporadic 
islands surrounding the continent of Greece 
being wanting round Italy. The develop- 
ment of Italy is not to be sought for on the 
sea, but on firm ground. Italy is, however, 
richer in fertile river-plains, in fruitful and 
rich mountain-slopes, inviting to a pastoral 
and agricultural life. Here the people de- 
veloped very early an extraordinary ac- 
tivity in the culture of the soil, and aspired 

q 2 



228 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

to possess land, in order to expand and settle 
down. 
East and The eyes of Italy were continually turned 
West, towards the West — first, the lands beyond the 
Italy . 6 *" 1 Apennines, and then those beyond the Alps, 
rilled them with an irresistible longing; 
whilst the eyes of the Greeks were conti- 
nually turned towards the East, their primi- 
tive cradle. Attika and Makedonia turned 
towards the rising, Latium, Etruria and Cam- 
pania towards the setting sun. All the grand 
historical events, that occupied the Greeks, 
and taxed their utmost energy, came from the 
East, and ended in the East. All the most 
important exploits of the Romans happened 
in the West and North-west of Europe. We 
clearly see that the geographical position 
determined the destinies of each of the two 
great nations of the civilized ancient world, 
who, in the words of the celebrated Historian, 
Professor Theodore Mommsen, " threw their 
shadows, as also their seeds — the one towards 
the East, the other towards the West." 
Etbmoai It would be extremely difficult to deter- 
eiements m i ne the question, whether the aboriginal 
Eomans. inhabitants of Italy were "autochtons" — that 
is, people who have risen from the soil, on 
which they are found. If the Historian 
cannot settle this question, he can, at all 
events trace several distinct national layers, 
which formed the component elements of the 
Italian population, till the great fusion of 
them took place, and one grand homogeneous 
State-body was formed from the different 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 229 

tribes, races, and nationalities. In treating 
of Greece, we endeavoured, so far as our 
space and plan would permit, to trace the 
oldest historical elements, and were com- 
pelled to deal with single individuals, repre- 
senting often mighty national groups. In 
Roman history, these individuals are repre- 
sented by whole groups of nationalities, who 
were either aborigines or immigrants. The 
identity of the oldest inhabitants must re- 
main, more or less, a matter of ingenious spe- 
culation. We may, however, divide the 
earliest inhabitants of Italy into three distinct 
classes : — 

1. The Iapygians, concerning whom we i : lapy- 
possess very little trustworthy information, gians ' 
were settled in the extreme south-east corner 
of Italy. Later immigrants, coming from the 
North, or North-east, must naturally have 
pushed the earlier settlers towards the South 
and South-east. On the Calabrian peninsula 
many inscriptions have been discovered, in 
a peculiar language, entirely different from 
any of the other languages of Italy. Some 
of the funereal inscriptions run thus : " Theo- . 
toras artahiaihi bennarrihinio," and " dazi 
honas, platorrihi bollihi." We may here 
conjecture that the formation of the (pro- 
bably) genitive case, aihi and ihi, corresponds 
to the Sanskrit asya, and the Greek oio. 
That there was some connection and ethnical 
relationship between the Greeks and Iapy- 
gians may be demonstrated from the fact, 
that many names of the Divinities in these 



230 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

inscriptions are of undoubted Greek origin. 
In addition to this, it is to be observed that 
the Iapygians, who, in the times of Timseus 
(350 b.c.) ? suddenly step into history, appear 
200 years later, without any great influx of 
Greek elements, as highly cultivated Greeks. 

2. Italians. 2. The Italians, who occupied the centre 
of the peninsula, were, according" to more reli- 
able traditions, subdivided into two classes, 
composed of different immigrants. These 
were : — 

Latins and ( a ^ The Latins, and 

(b.) The Umbrians ; including the more 
southern Marsians and Samnites. The dia- 
lects spoken by them have some resemblance 
to one another; and their relation to Greek 
may be traced with greater precision, not- 
withstanding the wide difference between 
them. We may assert, with Professor Momm- 
sen, that " Greeks and Italians were brothers, 
whilst Kelts, Germans, and Sclavons are 
cousins." Of these, the Germans are nearer 
cousins to the Greeks, the Kelts nearer to 
the Italians, and the Sclavons the most 
distant of all. The ethnical origin and re- 
lationship of the Latins and Umbrians is 
' clearer than in the case of the Iapygians. 
The Aryans, before they separated in Central 
Asia, had possessed a certain degree of civi- 
lization, which may be found embedded in 
words, the similarity and affinity between 
which cannot be doubted from a philological 
point of view. We have 

(a.) Such words as are distinct expressions 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 231 

of the awakening consciousness of the indi- Analogy 
vidual, as the verb to be : ahmi. ehmL esmi, bet " reen 
sum ; or the word do (to give), or the words expressing 
pater, mater, f rater (father, mother, brother) ; JJ^^jJ 
which clearly prove that these family rela- ness. 
tions must have existed before the great 
separation of the different branches of the 
one Aryan stock took place. 

(/3.) Such words as prove that the people 03.) Of a 
must have reached in common a certain state ]^° r 
of pastoral development, and possessed tame 
animals, for which they used the same words, 
as : — 

Gaus in Sanskrit, bous in Greek, and bos in 
Latin (ox); 

Avis in Sanskrit, ois in Greek, and ovis in 
Latin (sheep) ; 

Aqvas (akvas) in Sanskrit, hippos in Greek, 
and equus in Latin (horse) ; 

Hansas in Sanskrit, chen in Greek, and anser 
in Latin (gander or goose) ; 

Atis in Sanskrit, nessa in Greek, and anas 
in Latin (duck or drake). Besides these, we 
have cattle (pecus) ; pig (sus) ; pork (porcus) ; 
bull (taurus) • dog (eanis) ; all of which the 
Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin languages have 
in common, proving with incontrovertible 
certainty that the people, using these words, 
must have lived together at a certain period 
of their existence, and have reached, before 
they separated, a higher state of culture, than 
that of mere fish-eaters and hunters. / ^ ofthe 

( y .) Agriculture could not yet have been agricultural 
developed in common by these different common. 



232 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 



(5.) Of a 
higher 
settled 
state in 
coninion. 



races. The Gra?co-Latin words for com and 
agricultural implements are not the same as 
in Sanskrit. Thus agras is in Sanskrit the 
floor in general, and becomes, as ager with 
the Latins, the field (acre) ; Kurnu in Sans- 
krit means anything crushed or broken, 
whilst with the Latins it becomes granum 
(corn) ; and aritram in Sanskrit is rudder and 
ship, whilst the Latin word aratrum is the 
plough, cleaving the earth as the ship does 
the sea ; venas in Sanskrit denotes something 
agreeable or pleasing, and the Latin vinum 
became wine. These words may be traced 
back to Sanskrit roots ; but their different 
application proves that the Latins must have 
been separated from their brethren before 
agriculture had been generally practised. 

(<?.) That they lived in a more settled 
state, and possessed houses and huts in 
common, may be shown from the Sanskrit 
dam[as], in Greek dumos, and in Latin domus 
(house) ; the Sanskrit veqas, in Greek oikos. 
in Latin vicus (a row of houses, a street) ; the 
Sanskrit dvaras, in Greek thura. and in Latin 
fores (doors). These are convincing lingual 
proofs that Indians, Greeks, and Latins pos- 
sessed houses, streets, and doors in common. 
This may also be asserted of ships, in Sans- 
krit naus, in Greek nous, and in Latin navis ; 
and of waggons, in Sanskrit akshas. in Greek 
axon or am-axa, and in Latin axis. That they 
wore dresses is proved by the Sanskrit vastra, 
in Greek esthes, in Latin testis (garments) ; 
further we have the words to sew, in Sanskrit 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 233 

siv, in Latin sua ; or to spin, in Sanskrit 
nah, in Greek netho, and in Latin neo. The 
Sanskrit asis, with the Latin ensis, proves a 
common use of metal weapons. 

( e -) We may even go beyond this, and trace (*.) Ana- 
historically through Philology, elements between 
in Religion and Sciences, which Indians, religious 
Greeks, and Latins must have possessed in ^onsT 
common. The Sanskrit word devas is the 
Greek theos and the Latins deus. The nu- 
merals, up to one hundred, are the same in 
the three languages. Heaven, with all three, 
was the father, and the Earth the mother ; 
the Greeks worked out these mythic concep- 
tions with poetical geniality ; the Latins left 
them as they received them, and amply bor- 
rowed from the Hellens at a later period, when 
long separated from their common ancestors. 
The whole of their agricultural development 
can clearly be traced to the Greeks. With 
agriculture, writing and the coining of money 
were developed ; though they may not have 
been directly adopted from the Greeks. The 
measurement of land was also borrowed origin of 
by the Latins from the Greeks. The en- tempium 
gineer used first to draw a line from north temple. 
to south, and then from east to west ; he 
then placed himself on the point of intersec- 
tion, which was called in Greek temenos or 
temon, the Latin tempium, the word temple. 
Parallel lines were drawn at certain, distances 
in both directions, and by this means the 
field was cut up into squares. The corners 
of these squares were marked by pillars, on 



234 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

which we find the Greek word terrnones, in 
Sicilian inscriptions, from which the Latins 
derived termini, meaning boundaries. Such 
analogies must be noted by Historians, in 
order to enable them, to fix the common ori- 
gin of social and political, religious and rural 
usages and expressions in different nations. 
If-) . (c) If we study the description of a 

between Greek house in Homer, we may at once. con- 
Latin and y i nce ourselves that the Etruskans (see below) 
houses. and Latins adhered to the same arrangement. 
The most important inner part of the house 
was called atrium, meaning the black part 
(the blackened ceiling), with the hearth, the 
altar, the conjugal bed and the dinner table, 
corresponding to the Greek megaron, which 
was the principal apartment in a dwelling, 
or the shrine of a temple. 
(t?.) (v) The dresses of the two people were 

between nearly the same. The tunica corresponded 
Greek and to the Greek chiton, or under-erarment, and 
dresses, the toga was merely a wider kind of Greek 
Analogous Mmation, the upper-garment. Their wea- 
weapons. p 0ng were a ]ik e • and therefore their mode ot 

defence and attack may be assumed to have 
been the same. They had two principal 
arms — darts, and bows and arrows. The 
lance (lancea) was probably borrowed, at a 
much later period, from Germans or Spa- 
niards. So much may be gathered from all 
these details, that there must have been a 
certain period, during which Greeks, Latins, 
and Indians formed one nation ; and a 
second period, in which the two former 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 235 

must have been already severed from the 
latter, they themselves still remaining in 
close union ; whilst, during the third period, 
they, in their turn, entirely separated. With 
the last period, began an analogous, but at 
the same time markedly different develop- 
ment in the two offsprings of the same 
lingual and racial mother. 

(0.) In spite of all these analogies, there (0.) Diver- 
was, in the very first foundation of the social customs 
organizations of the Greeks and Latins, a wide and 
divergence. The Greeks sacrificed every thing 
to the individual. They placed the citizen 
above the community, the community above 
the nation, and the nation above the State. 
Everything was to be subjected to a power- 
ful and, at the same time, beautiful ideal. 
All was to yield to individualism in the com- 
munity, and to particularism in the State. 
As soon as they had worked out some grand 
idea, they felt a special pleasure in following 
blindly the law of action and reaction, and 
destroyed their own work. All their greatest 
men were idolized one day, and sent into exile 
the next. There was scarcely one eminent 
man amongst the Greeks who did not ex- 
perience the fickleness and ingratitude of his 
countrymen. The Greeks allowed passion and 
reason an unlimited play, and accomplished 
the most glorious and the most atrocious 
deeds ; building up the finest works of intel- 
lect, and in the end themselves spoiling them, 
as children do their cherished toys. Eepose 
and enjoyment, and often an unruly, boister- 



236 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

ons independence characterised the Greeks; 

whilst the Romans were driven through terror 

Terror and and fear to restless activity. Brute force was 

foundation the motor in the Roman State from the very 

L^%t beginning. The son was overawed by the 

father, the father by the community, the 

community by the province, the province by 

Rome, Rome by its rulers, and its rulers by 

the State. Everyone had to do something 

practical and useful for an abstraction, which 

abstraction was the Roman State. Everyone, 

who wanted to know more than his fellows, 

or to act differently from the established 

fashion, was at once considered a fearless, and 

therefore a dangerous, citizen ; because the 

State saw in him a disturbing element, that 

was to be crushed in the name, and for the 

benefit, of the State. The individual was only 

a zero to swell the value of the State-unit, 

and had only importance when kept in his 

assigned place. 

Analogies The family was, with the Romans, as with 

gences^n" ^ ne Greeks, the very foundation of the State, 

the organ- but with a considerable difference. The 

ization of -n ,-t ri -\ r i • 

the family, woman, with the (jrreeks, was a tree agent m 
the sacred family circle. With the Romans, 
she was a mere property, subject to the ca- 
pricious tyranny of the master of the house. 
The free moral submission of the wife in 
Greece was changed by the Latins into legal 
bondage. The slave, under the Latins, was 
houseless, homeless, and without any human 
rights. In ancient times this had been the 
case with the Greeks ; but this illegal status 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 237 

was soon changed, and the slave treated with slaves and 
less severity, and his conjugal rights secured. J heir 
The family formed the oikia (the house), and 
the houses the community. These communi- 
ties long retained their independent rights 
during the historical period of Greece; whilst, 
with the Romans, they had only rights and 
power as tools in the State, and were lost in 
the terrible abstraction, expressed in the mys- 
tic words, il Senatus, populusque RomanorumP 
The old Egyptian "I am I" mystery was 
revived by the Romans. To efface, and alto- 
gether to annihilate, the individual was the 
constant effort of the Roman State ; to pre- 
serve the free development of man, was the 
aim of the Greeks. 

(i- ) The political organization of the Latins (i ) The 
had also originally some analogy with that po ^ lt ^ 1 . 
of the Greeks ; but a great dissimilarity tion of the 
developed itself very early with the Romans. Latms * 
The laws of "King Italus," of mythic origin 
and nature, were said to have been the fun- 
damental enactments amongst the Latins as 
late as the times of Aristotle. These laws 
were those to which Greeks and Latins must 
have bowed at a certain period of their tribal 
union. The head of the State had the ri^ht 
to conclude peace and to declare war. He 
was controlled by a council of aged men, and 
public assemblies of the free, arm-bearing The admin- 
citizens were permitted. The administra- jSce?° 
tion of justice must also have had some 
resemblance. The words crimen in Latin, 
and krinein in Greek (crime) ; poena in Latin, 



238 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

and poine in Greek (punishment) ; ialio in 
Latin, and taldo or tltnai in Greek (retalia- 
tion), are Grseco-Latin expressions, conveying 
the same notions. The severe and san^uin- 
ary laws regulating the relations between 
creditors and debtors were, down to the times 
of Solon, common to Greeks and Latins. 
Royalty, a senate, and an assembly of the 
people, were common to both nations ; and 
yet writers and readers of Greek and Roman 
History can trace the totally different devel- 
opments taken by these institutions, though 
they were the outgrowths of one and the 
same root. The Greeks had broader and 
more comprehensible institutions, whilst the 
Latins were governed by a general idea, to 
which every single individual was joyfully 
ready to sacrifice himself, his worldly goods, 
and the dearest members of his family ; for 
the mysterious State-abstraction was their 
General supreme god. Ideal beauty was' with the 
between 6 Greeks the highest earthly attainment, 
Greeksand worthy to strive and to live for. Reality, in 
property and honours, which only the State 
could give, was the aim of the Latins. The 
Greeks lived in an eternal world of poetry ; 
politics were with them nothing serious. 
An Olympian game, a new tragedy by 
Sophokles, a comedy by Aristophanes, a 
statue by Pheidias, a picture by Apelles, 
interested them more than any of the vic- 
tories of Miltiades, Kimon, or Themistokl&s. 
The Latins, on the other hand, sacrificed 
individual freedom and their innermost 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 239 

thoughts to the interest of a united and 
powerful country. Everything was with 
them subservient to the whole, whatever 
that whole was. This sentiment developed 
an unprecedented cohesion in the Romans, 
an unbounded love for the State, an invincible 
patriotism, as the combined moral and intel- 
lectual force, which made them not only mas- 
ters of the Greeks, but of the whole then 
known world. 

3. The Eteuskans, Tuskans, Tyrrhenians, 3. The 
or, as they called themselves, Basena, formed Etruskans - 
an element quite distinct from the Iapygians, 
Latins, Umbrians, Sabines, or Sabellines. 
They were small men, with short, thick-set 
bodies, large heads, powerful chests, and 
strong sinewy limbs. They were probably Probably 
Mongol immigrants at a very ancient period. origin? g ° 
Notwithstanding the various hypotheses his- 
torians have propounded, we are unable to 
fix the origin and nationality of these Etrus- 
kans with any very satisfactory degree of 
probability. They were of an ethnical and 
lingual type, entirely differing from that of 
the nations that surrounded them. The 
Iapygians and Latins were Aryans; the 
Etruskans can only be classified as a resi- 
duum of Mongol conouerors, who must have 
passed on their wanderings through Greek 
settlements, where they acquired certain re- 
ligious and heroic notions, which lived with 
them long after, as dim recollections of by- 
gone ages. All that we possess of the Etrus- 
kans dates from a period in which Greek 



240 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



The 

Etruskan 
language. 



The 

Etruskans 

and 

Ehaetians 

from the 

North. 



influences can be traced in their language, 
their customs, and artistic products. 

The language of the Etruskans was 
compressed, full of consonants, and had 
very few vowels. Tarquinius became, with 
them, Tarcknas.; Minerva, Menrva ; Mene- 
laos, Menle; Polydeukes, PultuJce ; and Alex- 
ander, Elihsentre. The god Hermes was 
Tarms ; Aphrodite, Turan ; Hephaestos, Seth- 
lans ; and Bacchus Fufluns. The old Etrus- 
kan language was, even in ancient times, 
considered unlike all others ; and it is 
scarcely probable that more will ever be 
known of it. Some endings and words that 
have a Latin colour are unquestionably of a 
later date. Speculation was always rife con- 
cerning the Etruskans. They called Zeus 
also Tina or Tinia, by some derived from the 
Sanskrit dina (day), but it might perhaps be 
the Chinese word u Tien" (heaven). From 
the facial lines of the Etruskans, so far as 
they can be studied on ancient vases, it 
appears that they were a mixture of Aryans 
and Mongols, often depicted as engaged in 
deadly combat with enemies of a decidedly 
Mongol type. The Etruskans most probably 
came down from the Northern regions 
of Italy and were gradually driven towards 
the South. There was a tribe in the Ty- 
rol and Switzerland, called Rhsetians, who 
spoke a language very much like Etruskan ; 
and that the name Rhcetians has some affin- 
ity with Rasena, cannot be denied. In con- 
tradiction to these assumptions, Herodotus 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 241 

already asserted that the Etruskans came 
from Lydia in Asia. This was denied by 
other ancient writers, especially by Diony- 
sius, as not the slightest analogy could be 
found between the language, customs, and 
religious notions of the Lydians and 
the Etruskans. Professor Mommsen ad- Etruskans 
raits that some small piratical tribe mi^ht 7T 5 said 
nave come over irom Asia ; but it is come from 
equally probable that this immigration Afnca - 
proceeded from Africa, as Egyptian cus- 
toms can be traced amongst the pre-historic 
Etruskans. Others have endeavoured to They were 
trace in these settlers pre-historic Turks, f ss m rte ^ t( ^ 
Turkoi, or even Hungarians. The names Hunga- 
Turs-ennse, or Tursenoi, or Turrenoi, Turs-ci, nans# 
or Turs-ki, and Ungri, Ugri, Ugrenoi, were 
so tempting, that they led some learned 
archaeologists to allow their imaginations to 
get the better of common sense. We have 
hitherto failed to discover one single word in 
Etruskan inscriptions that had the slightest 
resemblance to a Hungarian or Magyar word. 
A town, " Turra," was mentioned, of which 
the inhabitants would naturally be " Turre- 
noi," and, as amongst the Lydians, there 
was a tribe of u Torreboi," and Thukydides Thukydi- 
asserted, rightly or wrongly, that the pirati- them^the 
cal Torrhebians had settled in Etruria, the Torrhe- 
hypothesis that the Etruskans had been immi- Lydia? 
grants obtained general credence. We have 
felt it our duty to point out these ethnical 
difficulties, as much time is often wasted by 
Historians on apparently very learned re- 
ft 



242 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Settle- 
ments of 

Etruskans. 



Remnants 

of walls 
and other 
ruins . 



searches, which make confusion still more con- 
founded. In all such instances it is best to col- 
lect the different opinions of the most reliable 
authorities, to treat them with equal fairness, 
and to adopt none of the propounded hypo- 
theses, until they have been changed, through 
indisputable facts, into credible theories. 

From time immemorial the Etruskans had 
large settlements in Italy. Some of the 
ruins, such as the Philistine excavations, 
date from a period far anterior to the Foun- 
dation of Home. Remnants of canals and 
dikes to regulate the river P6, prevent inun- 
dations, and drain marshy land, are plentiful. 
In addition, the " Cloaca Maxima," the great 
subterranean canals of Rome, have been 
attributed to the Etruskans. The Etruskan 
walls were of immense thickness, as though 
constructed for eternity. At Yolaterrse (the 
modern Volterra), two or three miles of the 
town wall, provided with two gates, are still 
standing. Other ruins are to be found at 
Clusium (Chiusi), Cortona, Aretium, &c. At 
Clusium the tomb of the Etruskan king, 
Porsenna, was said to have existed, which, 
according to the descriptions of some ancient 
Roman writers, resembled a fairy palace. 
Five pyramids, each 150 feet high, orna- 
mented the tomb. These accounts may, of 
course, have been exaggerated; but it re- 
mains a fact, that the Etruskans were in a 
state of political decline when Rome was 
Aqueducts founded, and their great towns were of pre- 
viaducts. historic date. Aqueducts and viaducts may 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 243 

be traced to them, proving a high state of 
practical civilization. The soil, on which 
this mixture of Aryans, Mongols, and Afri- 
cans had settled, was of a nature to force the 
inhabitants to continuous individual efforts. 
In spring they had to ward off the devas- 
tating waters of the overflowing rivers, and 
in summer they had to provide water for 
their parched valleys. 

Their Mythology was composed of Assy- The 
rian, Persian, and Egyptian notions, in- ^™o- an 
termingled, at a later period, with Greek logy. 
conceptions of the personified powers of 
nature. All that they possessed in the form 
of a religious creed, however, was strongly 
tinged with the gloomiest superstitions. The 
geological and volcanic formation of the soil 
was the direct cause of this phenomenon. 
u Petrifactions of the most astonishing forms influence 
abound in the plains where the Etruskans betas'. 
settled. Near Cortona the bones of a whale 
have been found. The Arno valley resembles 
a vast elephant burial-place ; and the bones of 
the mastodon, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus 
are scattered broadcast all over old Etruria. 
Besides the bones of these huge monsters, 
those of hyenas, panthers, bears, and wolves 
are found in such abundance, that the peas- 
ants to this very day believe they grew like 
mushrooms over-night, having been sown by 
invisible spirits to give the poor the trouble 
of picking them up." * Others asserted these 

* See Dr. G. G. Zerffi: "A Manual of the Historical Develop- 
ment of Art." London : 1876. 

B 2 



244 THE SCIENCE OF H1STOEY. 

bones to have been those of the conquered 
Titans, or the fallen angels. The aspect of 
a gloomy nature, and the mysterious re- 
mains of an antediluvian world, gave the 
Etruskan priesthood an irresistible sway 
over the minds of the people. The Ro- 
mans, at a later period, made use of these 
religious elements to overawe the people, 
and to keep them in subservience through 
fear. 
The Etrus- The Etruskans had two classes of gods : — 
kanshad r a \ rpj veiled, hidden, or invisible gods, 

two classes .v ' > . * o m ? 

of gods, with "Asar" at their head, representing 
the cosmical forces of nature, especially fire, 
water, earth, and air — corresponding to the 
Indian, Egyptian, and Greek deities of the 
first order. 

(b. ) Twelve lower divinities, presiding over 
all existing and visible things. These were 
phantoms of horror ; and, wherever the con- 
ception of the gods is ferocious, the character 
of the people invariably assumes the same 
tint. The Etruskan priests were said to have 
attacked the Romans with hissing serpents 
and burning torches. 
The timn- No less than twelve different varieties of 
derboits, as thunderbolts were known to the Etruskan 
iJedlbytie priests. They believed, and made the people 
Etruskans. Relieve, in thunderbolts of prophecy, author- 
ity, law, wish, admonition, approval, help, 
prosperity, falsehood, plague, threats, and 
murder. The nature of the thunderbolt was 
determined by the priests, according to the 
sound of the thunder, and the direction and 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 245 

vividness of the lightning. Every transaction 
of life, every great j)olitical event, was be- 
lieved to be connected with some approving 
or disapproving thunder-clap ; which, in a 
region where thunderstorms were frequent, 
was nothing very extraordinary. Every day 
of the year, that brought thunder and light- 
ing, had its special signification. 

The priests, who formed the highest and The 
most noble caste amongst the Etruskans, occu- pS^ an 
pied themselves exclusively with prophecy. 
They were able to read the future, not only 
in thunder and lightning, but in the flight of 
birds, and the entrails of animals, killed for 
sacrificial purposes. The dwarf " Tages," The dwarf 
who rose from the earth, is said to have 
taught the priests the art of explaining signs 
and predicting the future, foreshadowed by 
the gods in everything surrounding man. 
Mystic books, teaching this occult art, were 
believed to have been written and left by 
this mysterious dwarf, who gave to the priests 
their rituals, ceremonies, and hierarchical or- 
ganization. The Romans adopted and used Tne 

n , i ' i i l ,•,• i • i Romans 

many ot these rituals and superstitions, which adopted 
thev undoubtedlv borrowed from the Etrus- their , 
kans. It is a fact, that nearly all the haruspices 
(soothsayers or diviners), with the Romans, 
were Etruskans, who were believed to have 
inherited the power of divination from the 
gods in time immemorial. ' They believed in 
a hell — not a land of shadowy rest and for- 
getfulness, like the Hades of the Greeks, but 
an abode of horror and eternal fire. The 



246 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

proximity of the active volcanoes, Vesuvius 
and iEtna, must have engendered this super- 
stition. 
The The Etruskans had a peculiar political 

Sanation" organization. Corresponding to the number 
of the of their gods, probably taken from the Egyp- 
Etruskans. ^i a ns, their State was formed of a confede- 
ration of twelve independent towns. The 
most celebrated of these were Clusiuin, Peru- 
sia, Cortona, Tarquinii, Volaterrse, Caere, 
and Veji. The confederation held its meet- 
ings in a temple dedicated to the goddess 
Vultumna (a divinity protecting public as- 
semblies of the representatives of the people), 
near Volsinii. It was the duty of the con- 
federation to protect the towns belonging to 
it against foreign enemies. Each town sent 
deputies to the general meetings, and a ma- 
jority of votes was decisive. In case of war, 
however, each town was permitted to act 
according to its own interests, and either 
to take part in the war, remain neutral, or 
even side with the enemy, as each town had 
the right to enter into alliances with the 
surrounding peoples. 
The Notwithstanding all their superstitions, the 

Etruskans Etruskans were a practical people. They 
highly tried to render their towns and houses as 
practical. secure anc [ comfortable as possible. The 

Romans not only adopted their religious 
ideas, customs, and ceremonials, but also 
learned from them how to build private 
houses. The "impluvium" for collecting, 
and the " compluvium " for preserving., wa- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 247 

ter, were called " Tuscanica," and were in 
reality of Etruskan origin. 

The Etruskans in pre -historic times were The 
celebrated pirates, and had connections with ^X aT* 
Africa, Egypt, Phoenicia, and Greece. This pirates. 
circumstance explains the fact that their 
old pottery, vessels, and many utensils for 
every-day use, or for religious purposes, 
were Egyptian in character. A Greek im- 
migration is recorded about 660 B.C., when 
Eucheir, Diopos, Eugrammos, and Demera- 
tos were driven from Korinthum into Etruria, 
and from this time the Egyptian and Assyrian 
forms vanished, and were replaced by de- 
cidedly improved artistic productions, in an 
excellent Greek style. 

Pelasgians, Latins, and Etruskans were The . . 
the principal ethnical component elements of component 
the Romans, mixed w^ith Aberrigincs (abori- el f e j? ents 
gines), wandering people, some of whom are Romans. 
said to have come from Achaia, that is, from 
the Peloponnesus, and others from Argos and 
Larissa, both Pelasgian names, "Argos" 
meaning a town, and "Larissa" a citadel. 
All that had been said in the ancient myths 
of the settlement of the Pelasgians round 
Mount Hymettus, near Athens, to the effect 
that these people had come from Etruria 
or Tyrrhenia, was reversed in the Pom an 
myths, which made the Tyrrhenians and 
Pelasgians wander from the Mseonian coasts, 
in Asia, to Italy. ' ' If we examine the tra- 
ditions of nations," says the celebrated B G 
German historian, B. G. Niebuhr, in his Niebutr. 



248 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

" Lectures on the History of Rome" (trans- 
lated into English by Dr. Leonhard Schmitz. 
London : 1852), " we frequently find that the 
same events are related in various and en- 
tirely opposite ways. The story of a Jew 
taking merciless vengeance on a Christian, 
such as we read of in ' The Merchant of 
Venice ' (by Shakespeare), is found com- 
pletely reversed in a Roman tale written 
shortly before Shakespeare's time; in this 
the Christian is represented as wishing to 
cut a piece of flesh out of the Jew's body." 
When, and how Rome was founded, is still 
more wrapt in myths than the origin of the 
Greek towns. First Lavinium is said to have 
been built by iEneas, thirty years later Alba, 
and 300 years later Rome. The chronology 
of the Alban kings as given in Dionysius, is 
" nothing but folly and falsehood. This 
forgery, as we learn from Servius, was made 
at a late period by a freedman of Sulla, 
Lucius Cornelius Alexander of Miletus, who 
quickly became popular at a time, when 
people delighted in having the history of a 
period of which nothing could be known." 
The Roman History must be divided into three 

Eoman ° f g rea ^ Sections I 

History. (1.) The Mythical period during which 
cii! MytM " tne consolidation of the Romans may be 

studied under Seven Kings, representing as 

many phases in the progressive development 

of the town. 
(2.)Repub- (2.) The Historical period of the Republic, 

when the Romans appear provided with 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 249 

helmet, shield, and spear, mighty dashing 
heroes on the historical stage, setting ont to 
conquer the world ; and, as a nation, playing 
the part which Alexander the Great under- 
took as a free Greek individual. 

(3.) The Imperial period, when distracted (3.) impe- 
Rome declines, and finally falls in pomp and naL 
vanity. 

About twelve English miles from the mouth 
of the Tiber, up the river, rise splendid hills, 
loftier on the right side and lower on the left, 
peopled by tribes who, for the last 2,500 years, 
have been known under the name of Romans. 
The older form of the name was " Ramnes," The 
afterwards changed into Romanes, Romans. or " Eo- 
The word " Roma" signifies Strength, and, ma nes." 
read backwards — "Amor" — it means Love. 
The first men, according to Virgil, were made 
of wood, whilst the Greeks asserted them to . 
have been made of stones. (See page 73.) 
These beings were at first only half-human, 
and gradually acquired a civilization, which 
they owed to Saturn (Time). This is merely 
an allegorical account of men, first living in 
woods as savages, and improving by degrees, 
till they are finally taught writing, and reach 
a higher state of culture. What Orpheus is 
said to have done for the Greeks (see page 
95), the mythical Evander, who was assumed 
to have come from Arkadia, did for the 
Romans. 

I. Romulus and Remus were believed to t he m us ' 
have been the founders of Rome. In accord- assumed 
ance with all other ancient myths, they were of Rome. 



250 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Romulus, said to have been the sons of a virgin — Ilia, 

fgodTbom or . Rnea Sylvia— by a god. Their lives were 

of a virgin, miraculously preserved ; they were saved 

from the floods of the river, and reared by a 

she-wolf. We have here an account of the 

birth and rescue of the founders of Rome, 

analogous to that of Osiris, Moses, Zoroaster, 

Kyrus, and Buddha. If Ilia, the daughter 

of .ZEneas, was really the mother of Romulus 

and Remus, as Nsevius and Ennius assert, 

His she must have been 333 or 360 years old 

?? ?th So lf when she gave birth to the twins. The age 

IJia, was _ o . o 

333 or 360 ol the mother places this account at once 
years old. am0 ngst ^he impossibilities. Next we have 
a record that they were the grandchildren of 
Numitor, by his daughter, Rhea Silvia, a 
Vestal virgin, by a god. " While Rhea was 
fetching water in a grove for a sacrifice, the 
, sun became eclipsed, and she took refuge 
from a wolf in a cave, where she was over- 
powered by Mars (the god of war). When 
she was delivered, the sun was again eclipsed, 
and the statue of Vesta covered its eyes." 
The Livy (Titus Livius) then tells us that " neither 

Titus 11 ° gods nor men protected her or her children 
Livius from the kings cruelty. The priestess was 
lvy ^' bound and cast into prison (according to 
others, into the river Anio). The king com- 
manded the children to be thrown into the 
current of the river (the Tiber). By some 
interposition of Providence, the Tiber, hav- 
ing overflowed its banks in stagnant pools, 
did not admit of any access to the regular 
bed of the river, and the bearers supposed 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 251 

that the infants could be drowned in water 
however shallow. Thus, as if they had effectu- 
ally executed the king's orders, they exposed 
the boys in the nearest land-flood, where now 
stands the 'Ficus RuminahV (they say it was 
called Roniularis). The country, thereabout, 
was then a vast wilderness. The tradition 
is, that, when the water, subsiding, had left 
the floating trough, in which the children had 
been exposed, on dry ground, a thirsty she- a she-wolf 

IT * c A ' \Ar. ' suckles the 

won, coming from the neighbouring moun- children. 
tains, directed her course to the cries of the 
infants, and suckled them with so much 
gentleness that the keeper of the king's flock 
found her licking the boys. It is said his 
name was Faustulus, and that they were car- 
ried by him to his homestead to be nursed by 
his wife Laurentia." As if ashamed of this 
incredible tale, Livy adds, that some are of 
opinion that the wife of Faustulus was called 
" Lupa " (she-wolf) among the shepherds 
(from her being a wild and loose character), 
and that this circumstance gave rise to the 
surprising story. 

At a later period, when grown up, Romu- Romulus 
lus and Remus are said to have each wished g^ 
to build a town — Romulus on Mount Pala- 
tine, and Remus on Mount Aventine. A dis- 
pute arose between the two brothers as to 
which of them should give the town a name, 
and as to where it was to be built. Augurs 
were to decide the quarrel. Romulus was to 
take his stand on the Palatine, and Remus on 
the Aventine. The latter watched through 



252 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 



The whole 
account a 
mere fabri- 
cation. 



The myth 

about the 
spear was 
borrowed 
from the 

Greeks. 



the whole night, but observed nothing till 
about sunrise, when he saw six vultures fly- 
ing from north to south, and sent word of this 
to Romulus, who at that very time, annoyed 
at not having seen any sign, fraudulently 
sent a messenger to say, that he had seen 
twelve vultures ; and at the very moment the 
messenger arrived, twelve vultures did ap- 
pear, and to this Romulus appealed. The 
whole account must naturally be a fabrica- 
tion, from the very position of the two hills, 
for any one watching from the one, would 
easily see whatever happened high in the 
air near the other. The whole myth was 
most probably invented at a later period, 
when the Patricians, who had their seats 
on Mount Palatine, quarrelled with the Ple- 
beians, whose quarters were on Mount Aven- 
tine. To find an explanation for the deeply 
rooted antagonism between the two parties, 
History was falsified backwards ; and the be- 
ginning of their feuds traced to the very" 
foundation of the town. Historians must con- 
tinually bear in mind these, and similar, diffi- 
culties, that present themselves ; and not too 
hastily assume as facts, all that ancient writ- 
ings may have recorded as such. 

When Romulus decided to build a town, 
he threw his spear towards the Palatine. 
The spear took root, and became a tree, 
which existed down to the time of Nero, as 
a symbol of the eternity of the New City. 
We have in this the repetition, without any 
deeper meaning, of an incident borrowed 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 253 

from the Greeks, which we endeavoured to 
explain, when we mentioned the myth, re- 
lating that the goddess of wisdom, Pallas 
Athene, in vying for the supremacy of Athens 
with Poseidon, threw down her spear, which 
turned into an olive tree. (See page 81.) 

Romulus is then said to have fixed the Romulus 
boundary of his town, and Remus, scornfully {^daries 
leaping over the wall, was killed by Celer. of the 
This was interpreted as an allegorical sign, J^mus is 
that no one should cross the fortifications of killed. 
Rome with impunity. Romulus fell into a 
state of melancholy, occasioned by the death 
of Remus. He instituted festivals in his hon- 
our, and had an empty throne placed by the 
side of his own. This myth probably arose 
from the conquest of Remuria by Rome, by 
which the two towns were united into one 
kingdom. Thus Rome, the Latin town, be- 
gan to rule supreme. More allegorical events 
are related in a dry, matter-of-fact prose, bare 
of all poetry. The band of Romulus was 
said to have been too small, and he decided 
to turn the Capitoline Hill of the town into an The 
asylum. This was a very limited space; but ^nan" 16 
it was asserted that all manner of people — asylum. 
thieves, murderers, and outcasts of every kind 
— flocked thither. This legend became, at 
later times, a source of great animosity be- 
tween Patricians and Plebeians; the latter 
reproaching the former that their ancestors 
were nothing but vagabonds ; whilst, on the 
other hand, the Patricians retorted that they 
were the pure descendants of the free com- 



254 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

panions of Romulus, and that the Clients were 
descended from those outcasts whom they 
had generously taken under their protection. 
Further The improbabilities in the so-called his- 

• cu ties * torical accounts are continued. The Romans, 
or the new settlers on Mount Palatine, had 
no wives, and could obtain none. For the 
neighbouring more ancient States refused to 
have anything to do with the new dishonour- 
TheEape able settlers. Romulus had recourse to a 
Lbines. stratagem. A great festival was arranged, 
and the Sabines were invited, with their wives 
and daughters. In the midst of the solem- 
nities, thirty of the Sabine maidens were 
carried off by the Romans, and the thirty 
u curic^" named after them. Romulus, who 
had barely a handful of followers, and was 
obliged to turn his town into an asylum in 
order to people it, now suddenly divides it 
into thirty curiae (wards). The incredibility 
of the account is too evident to require any 
comment. Wars were the consequence of this 
incident. At last the Sabines yielded, and it 
was decided that the sovereignty should be 
divided between the Romans and Sabines. 
All this is said to have happened, according 
to the Annals, in the fourth year after the 
building of the town of Rome. 
Romulus Romulus continued, according to the An- 
hisowa 11 na l s > a kind and benevolent ruler, though he 
band is said to have killed, with his own hands, 
Veientines. 10,000 Veientines ; which must have occu- 
pied him for about six days and nights, if 
he killed 120 human beings in every hour. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 255 

So much for the veracity of this historical 
statement. Nothing further of the life of 
Romulus is recorded but his glorious end. 
When he had completed his earthly career, 
Jupiter (the supreme deity) felt himself 
bound to fulfil his promise given to Mars, 
that he would introduce Romulus among 
the gods. Romulus was reviewing his army, 
when, as at the moment of his birth, an 
eclipse of the sun occurred, and a terrible 
hurricane arose, during which Mars de- 
scended in a fiery chariot, and took . his son 
up to heaven. The same fiery ascent into Hemounts, 
heaven is recorded of Zoroaster, on a ray of ^St^to 
lightning ; of Buddha, on a ray of the sun ; heaven'. 
and of the prophet Elijah, in a fiery chariot. 
All these accounts were probably apotheo- 
ses, poetically glorifying the death of some 
famous lawgiver. The remarkable fact is, 
that some sensible, and even so-called learned 
men should have believed, and still believe, 
such utterly impossible occurrences. It is a what such 
significant characteristic of their belief, that ^ t r ^ s are 
they will only admit miracles in reference 
to their specially chosen teachers, kings, or 
prophets, and laugh at all those who claim a 
similar faith for their miraculous legislators ; 
and whilst they pity the childish credulity in 
others, they wish to force us to accept their 
incredibilities as indisputable facts. If, how- 
ever, such ascents into heaven really have 
taken place, and may be attributed to the 
omnipotent power of the Deity, they may 
have happened as well in one case as in 



256 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

another. The anxious jealousy with which 
each sect believes only in its own miracles, 
must convincingly prove, to the sober writer 
and student, that one miracle is as good as 
another, and that myths, supernatural inci- 
dents, and legends do not form component 
parts of History. 
what we We can read the following facts in the 
i£ a the ead P ei> i°d assigned to the reign of Romulus, if 
m)thacon-we eliminate all mythical matter. Rome 
Eomuius. was founded by someone ; the first settlers 
were nomadic shepherds, some of whom 
established themselves on Mount Palatine, 
others on Mount Aventine. A long period 
must have elapsed before their primitive set- 
tlements became an important town, which 
required fortifications, and became so ex- 
tensive as to be divided into thirty wards, 
communities, or parishes. During the whole 
of this period the new settlers had to struggle 
hard to obtain a certain amount of security 
for themselves and their families, their pro- 
perty and their lives. That they succeeded 
m this, cannot be doubted; for when they 
stepped into historical activity, they were 
masters of a large part of Italy. We may 
The poiiti- assume that their political condition simul- 
JoeiaT taneously advanced with their social de- 
condition velopment. In time the Sabines and Latins 

oittie early . x -, • , i • i r r i i 

Romans, entered into a kind 01 confederacy, each 
sending 100 senators to the common delibe- 
rations, held at a place between their prin- 
cipal towns. Such a meeting was called a 
" comitium." The Sabines and Latins thus 



TIIE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 257 

already formed a united state in regard to 
foreign matters, though each may have re- 
tained its special independence. The Greek 
and Etruskan system of town confederacies 
may thus be traced in these obscure and 
primitive times. 

We find, further, Patricians and Clientes, Patricians. 
to which must be added a third subdivision, 
the Plebeians. The Patricians were the nobles, 
the priests, and the political rulers : the Cli- ciientes. 
entes were those to whom they gave protec- 
tion, and who had to till the soil ; whilst the 
Plebeians were later immigrants, who did Plebeians. 
not live by agriculture, but settled within 
the " Pale," or on the borders of the town. 
They were free and independent artizans 
or mechanics ; in fact, the industrial and 
working middle classes of our own times. 
We may further assume, though Historians 
have to deal with innumerable contradictory 
assertions, that at a later period there were 
three groups of powerful families, those of 
the Ramnes, the Tities, and the Zuceres, origin of 
each of them represented by one hundred ^Tribes 
gentes (families), forming one third in the 
ruling State, and thence called a tribe, or 
tribus. The votes were taken in the beginning 
by tribes, and only at a later period by curice, 
or communities. There were probably in 
each tribe thirty curiw, making ninety alto- 
gether. At a still later period the tribes were 
differently classified, and were divided into 
gentes civium major es and g entes civiam minor 'es, 
representing the higher and the lower no- 

s 



258 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

bility, of which the former exclusively fur- 
nished the members of the Senate. 

Rome had a gradual social and political 
development, which could not have been 
attained four years after the building of the 
town, nor under one ruler, who, when found- 
ing the state, was represented as the leader 
of a few nomad shepherds. The transition 
from a nomadic into a settled town life above 
all requires time. 
Numa II. Numa Pompilius. The artificially 

Pompiims. wor k ec L ou fc d a t e f the death of Romulus, 

717 B.C., is as great a myth as his bodily 
translation to heaven in a lieiy chariot. For 
one year the Senate is said to have ruled 
with unlimited power, till the exasperated 
people, tired of the oligarchic tyranny, de- 
manded a king. A foreigner, the son-in-law 
of King Titus Tatius, Numa Pompilius, was 
then chosen second king of the Romans. 
Numa, Numa corresponds to the Manu of the In- 
^ ani ^ dians, the Menes of the Egyptians, the Moses 
Mose^and of the Jews, the Min6s of the Kretans, and the 
Miaos. Lykurgus of the Spartans ; he was the religious 
and political lawgiver of the Romans, and was 
treated with mysterious veneration. Like the 
other prophets, he received his sacred enact- 
ments from a supernatural power. Some firmly 
believed that Pythagoras, though he lived 150 
years after Numa, was his teacher; but the idea 
that the nymph Egeria made divine revela- 
tions to him, was the most generally adopted. 
It is recorded of him that he regulated 
the worship of the gods ; created the office 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 259 



of the "Pontifex Maximus" (which lite- The 

- Pontii 
Maximus. 



rally means the supreme superintendent of 



bridges) ; regulated the public religious cere- 
monies ; appointed Augurs, whose duty it 
was to prophesy ; divided property more 
equitably amongst the people, and estab- 
lished the worship of the god " Terminus.'' 
(See above the word termini). The myth 
-goes even farther, and ascribes to him an 
improvement of the calendar. He intro- 
duced the worship of " Janus," a deity to Janusand 
be found amongst the Indians, under the j? 6 |° dlan 
name of Granesa, which is the same word. 
This divinity had with the Indians, as with 
the Romans, two faces ; he was with the In- 
dians, as with the Romans, the leader of the 
gods, and the beginner of all enterprises ; he 
possessed the keys of heaven, because he was 
its door-keeper (janitor, in Latin) ; he held 
the crozier, or shepherd's staff, at a later 
period, the distinguishing sign of episcopal 
authority in the Christian Church; and the 
name of the first month of the year, " Janu- 
ary," is derived from him. This one special 
Roman god and his worship, founded by 
Numa Pompilius, go further, than any- 
thing we have adduced, to establish some 
connection between the Romans and their 
ancient Aryan brethren. The temple ofThetempie 
Janus was said to have been already built ol Janus - 
by Romulus on Mount Quirinal, though 
the institution of the worship of the deity 
was ascribed to Numa, who ordered the two 
opposite doors of the temple to be kept 

s 2 



260 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

open during a war, and closed in time of 
peace. 

We conclude from all this, that under the 
name of the second king of Home, we have 
to study the period of the slow and gradual 
religious and hierarchical development of the 
Romans. 
Tuihis III. We next have the military develop- 

Hostiiius. ment under Tullus Hostilius. The myth 
tells us that, after the death of l\ T uma, as 
after the death of Romulus, a short interreg- 
num took place, till Tullus Hostilius, who 
married Hersilia, one of the noblest Sabine 
maidens, was chosen king. He possessed an 
indomitable, warlike spirit, and first entirely 
subjected the town, " Alba Longa." In the 
traditions relating to the destruction of the 
town of "Alba," we have a similar record to 
that of the destruction of Troy; and we are 
told that "between Rome and Alba there 
was a ditch, the Fossa Cluilia or Clcelia ; and 
there must have been a tradition that the 
Livyand Albans had been encamped there. Livy 
Dionysms. anc [ Dionysius mention that Clulius, a gene- 
ral of the Albans, had given the ditch its 
name, having perished there. It was ne- 
cessary to mention the latter circumstance 
in order to explain the fact that afterwards 
their general was a different person, Mettius 
Fuffetius, and yet to be able to connect the 
name of that ditch with the Albans. The 
two states committed the decision of their 
dispute to champions; and Dionysius says, 
that tradition did not agree as to whether 



Horati 
and 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 261 

the . name of the Roman champions was 
Horatii or Curiatii, although he himself, as The 
well as Livy, assumes that it was Horatii, 
probably because it was thus stated by the Curiafoi. 
majority of annalists. Who would suspect 
any uncertainty here, if it were not for 
this passage of Dionysius ? The contest of 
the three brothers was a symbolical indica- 
tion that each of the two states was then 
divided into three tribes; and the legend 
went even further, representing the three 
brothers on each side as the sons of two 
sisters, and as born on the same day." The 
contest ended with Alba being razed to 
the ground. In spite of poetical intermix- 
tures and exaggerations, some faint histori- 
cal facts may be traced in the accounts of 
the reign of Tullus Hostilius — namely, the 
submission of the Albans under the dominion 
of the Romans. During the reign of this 
king, legions, and horsemen or cavalry are 
mentioned. If the organization of an army 
of a later period was not anachronistically 
attributed to Tullius Hostilius, this one cir- 
cumstance would go far to prove the high 
military development which Rome must 
have miraculously attained in the short 
period of three kings. The legions con- Themiiit- 
sisted of ten cohorts ; one cohort of three 2ation gam " 
manipuli; and one manipulus of two cen- 
turies ; and every legion had 300 horsemen 
— a military organization neither changed 
nor surpassed in our own times. This king 
is also credited with having introduced the 



262 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

short broadsword, the spear or javelin, and 
regulated and improved the use of bows and 
arrows. We have before us a period of 
great military development, under the name 
of Tullus Hostilius ; this is incontestable, 
whether we accept or reject the heroical 
myths and legends with which credulous 
ancient or modern historians have embel- 
lished his reign. The king is said to have 
been struck by lightning whilst offering 
prayers to Jupiter. 
Aneus IV. Ancus Martius was asserted to have 

Martha b een a grandson of Numa Pompilius, by 
his daughter, and combined in himself the 
warlike spirit of Romulus and the religious 
piety of Noma. After the Romans mastered 
Alba, they aspired to the leadership of the 
Latin town-confederation. He is said to have 
The first thrown the first wooden bridge over the Tiber; 
thrown an ^ to have taken possession of the right bank 
over the of the river, thus encroaching on Etruskan 
Tlber ' territory. He founded a colony at Ostia, at 
the mouth of the Tiber, and had a fortress 
constructed on mount Janiculum. A fourth 
period of military activity, and a further in- 
crease of the territory and influence of Rome, 
is recorded under the name of Ancus Martins. 
Lucius V. Lucius Taequinius Pkiscus, or the elder 

PnXi™ 8 Tarquin, is said to have been of Etruskan 
birth. His father, Demeratus, is set down as 
a wealthy citizen of Korinthum, who emi- 
grated, and settled in Tarquinii, in Etruria. 
One of his sons married Tanaquil, a pro- 
tI^i phetess, who induced her husband to go to 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 263 

Home, where he would reach the highest hon- 
ours. He followed her advice, and changed 
his name to Lucius. His wealth and superior 
Greek education soon made him a favourite 
amongst the Romans, who chose him for their 
king after the death of Ancus Martius. He 
is credited with those immense pre-historic 
monuments which we have mentioned as hav- 
ing been executed by the ancient Etruskans. 
He had the town of Rome surrounded by a 
wall, constructed of large square blocks, and 
built the "Circus Maximus," destined forim- The 
posing public games, horse and chariot races, ^aximus'' 
wrestling, fighting, and other athletic sports, 
for the amusement of the masses. Whilst, 
with the Greeks, such public games were 
national institutions, supported and executed 
by the most noble citizens, the people re- 
warding the victors with wreaths, tripods, 
and statues ; the Romans hired and trained 
professionals to exhibit their skill, for the 
coarse gratification of the people, who ap- 
plauded the feats and ignored the performers. 
In these totally different popular feelings, we 
may trace one of the most important factors 
in the social development of the Greeks and 
Romans. Besides enlarging, fortifying, and He 
beautifying the town, Tarquin increased the !^ d arges 
number of senators by a hundred members, fortifies 
The accounts which we possess, concerning 
the wars he waged, are so confused that we 
can only state with some certainty that he 
further extended the dominion of the Romans 
by annexing Latin, Samnite, and Etruskan 



264 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

towns and territories. The myth furnishes 
His death, us with a very tragic report of his death. 
Two of the sons of Ancus Martius are said to 
have hired assassins, who, disguised as wood- 
cutters, carrying their axes, pretended to 
quarrel before the king's palace, and called 
upon him to decide their dispute. The king, 
then eighty years of age, admitted them to 
his presence, and whilst listening to their 
complaint, they attacked and murdered him. 
Servius VI. Servius Tullius is said to have suc- 
ceeded Tarquin, the elder, through a strata- 
gem of Queen Tanaquil; who, after the murder 
of her husband, had the gates of the palace 
closed, and proclaimed that the king had not 
been killed, but only wounded, and had en- 
trusted his son-in-law, Servius Tullius, with 
the government, which was thus carried on in 
the name of Tarquin for some time. Tullius 
Assumed was assumed to have been born at Corniculum, 

been bom °^ a s ^ aye ? an( ^ n ^ s infancy was remarkable 
at Comi- for prodigies, which foreshadowed his future 
greatness. Flames played around his head, 
when he slept in his cradle. Tanaquil fore- 
saw his destiny, and he was brought up as 
the king's own child. As a youth, he already 
distinguished himself by bravery and wis- 
dom. After a war, of twenty years 7 duration, 
he subjected the whole of Etruria to the 
dominion of Rome, and firmly established 
the supremacy of the even then all-powerful 
city. What Numa Pompilius did for the 
hierarchy, Servius Tullius is said to have 
done for the social and political organization 



culum. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 265 

of the Roman state. Like Solon, he divided The new 
the citizens into different classes, according pontica? 
to their wealth, and by this means broke the division of 

r» , i • i. /* »i • ; tt the -Roman 

power oi the ancient iamily aristocracy, tie citizens. 
gave the Plebeians a better social position by 
granting them certain rights and privileges. 
He also divided them into tribes and curia?, 
which Romulus had done exclusively with 
the nobles. Each such tribe, guild, or cor- 
poration was represented by a Tribune. The 
whole of the Roman territory was divided 
into thirty tribes, comprising Patricians, as 
well as Plebeians. At first the Plebeians had 
no political power, and had no right to take 
part in the elections or the administration of 
public affairs. They were only by degrees 
endowed with the same privileges as the 
Patricians ; and Servius Tullius thus formed 
one mighty people of the Romans, who, up to 
his times, had been divided into several, often 
hostile, sections. It was asserted of him that 
he had intended to abolish the regal authority, 
and to introduce the Republic. His institu- 
tions bear the stamp of Greek Democracy. 
He instituted the census, a register of every The 
Roman citizen and his property. He then 
divided the people, without any consideration 
of their origin, into five great classes, and Division ot 
these into 193 centurice. To the first class £ t e ^ ple 
belonged those who possessed 100,000 asses classes. 
and upwards, about £3,436 sterling (the as 
represented a pound weight of copper of 
twelve ounces, and the ounce was of the value 
of about three farthings English money) ; to 



census. 



266 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

the second, those who possessed 75,000 asses 
and upwards ; to the third, 50,000 and up- 
wards; to the fourth, 25,000 and upwards; 
to the fifth 12,500 and upwards. Smiths and 
carpenters belonged to the first class, and 
musicians to the fifth. There can be no doubt 
that these divisions dated from a much later 
period, and were attributed by historians to 
Servius Tullius, simply to hallow the new 
organization with the sanctity of antiquity, 
and to raise it above contemporary criticism. 
The division also served for military pur- 
poses. At the head of the classes were the 
Equites (the cavalry), the knights ; six be- 
longed to the old Patrician, and twelve were 
chosen from the chief Plebeian families. The 
193 centuries formed the new National As- 
The sembly, called " Comitia Centuriata." They 
Centu- ia m ct on the Campus Martius (the Field of 
riata." Mars), and voted by centuries, each counting 
as one vote. The wealthy classes, however, 
had a great advantage over the others, for 
they formed one hundred centuries, whilst 
the remaining ninety-three embraced the 
other four classes. The elders (senior es) 
always voted before the younger members 
(juniores). The National Assembly was made 
the supreme power in the State. It had the 
right of electing kings and the higher magis- 
trates ; of proposing, passing, and abolishing 
laws ; and gave the final decision in cases of 
appeal. To control this powerful body, Ser- 
£kf vius left the " Comitia Curia ta " untouched; 

Curiata." and this highest tribunal consisted exclusively 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 267 

of Patricians, voting according to curice. No 
vote of the National Assembly was valid un- 
til it had been confirmed by the "Comitia 
Curiata." A third, intermediate, power was 
granted to the " Comitia Tributa," who were The 

CD ' it f^ *4- m 

entrusted with local affairs, such as the elec- xributa.'* 
tion of lower magistrates, collecting the tri- 
batum or taxes, and furnishing the necessary 
contingent to the army ; they voted according 
to tribes. The next great work, attributed 
to Servius Tullius, was the extension of the Extension 
"Pomcerium," or the hallowed boundary of ome " 
the city. He surrounded the town by a 
stone wall and a moat. Thus Rome received 
a circumference of five miles, and the seven 
hills, the Palatine, Aventine, Capitoline, 
Cselian, Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquiline, 
were included within its precincts. 

The end of this king is said to have been The tragic 
most tragic ; and we may recognize in the gervius 
fictitious account the later selfish and indo- Tullius. 
mitable nature of the Romans, swayed by 
passion and ambition. Servius Tullius is said 
to have had no sons, but only two daughters, 
of very opposite characters : the one, modest 
and pious; the other, wild and heartless. 
To counteract their natural propensities, he 
married the first to the proud and passionate 
Lucius Tarquinius ; and the second to the 
kind and unambitious Aruns Tarquinius ; but 
he utterly failed in his attempt to correct 
the violent temper of his younger daughter 
by marrying her to a quiet man, or to check 
tne impetuous spirit of Lucius Tarquinius by 



268 THE SCIENCE OP HISTORY. 

giving him the gentle elder sister as a com- 
panion. Like sought like ; and the younger 
sister, enraged at her father's long life, and 
fearing that her husband (Aruns) would 
quietly give up the crown, united herself 
Tarquinius with Tarquinius, afterwards called Superbus 
Superbus. ^k e p rouc [) 7 murdered her husband, induced 

Lucius Tarquinius to murder his wife, and 
then herself married him. Tullia now in- 
cessantly urged her husband to murder her 
father, and thus obtain the kingdom which 
he so ardently coveted. Tarquinius con- 
spired with the Patricians, who hated Ser- 
vius for his reforms ; and when all was ripe, 
he appeared on the Forum, accompanied 
by a party of armed men ; then, " whilst all 
were struck with dismay, seating himself on 
the throne before the senate-house, he or- 
dered the Patricians to be summoned by the 
crier to attend King Tarquin ; they hastened 
to the senate ; some of them already pre- 
pared for the scene ; others out of fear ; 
others, again, thinking that it was all over 
with Servius Tullius." When the king heard 
of the strange and alarming commotion, 
he boldly hastened to the scene, and bade 
Tarquin quit the royal chair at once; but 
Tarquin sprang forward, seized the old 
man, and flung him down the stone steps. 
Covered with blood, the king hastened home, 
but was overtaken by the servants of the re- 
bellious Tarquin, and murdered at the top of 
Tullia, Ms the Cyprian street. Tullia drove joyfully to 
Wlfe - the Forum, in order to be the first to greet 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 269 

her husband as king; on her return, her 
charioteer pulled up suddenly, near a temple 
to the right of the Orbian hill, and pointed 
out the bleeding corpse of her father lying 
across the road. She, however, ordered him 
to drive on, and passed over her father's 
body, reaching her home with carriage and 
dress stained with her father's blood. We 
may justly assume that the whole of this 
revolting occurrence was invented at a later 
period, when the Romans trembled before 
Csesarism, and wished to brand the first 
period of their historical existence under 
kings with ignominy, in order to warn the 
masses not to turn their backs on the Re- 
public, and to submit to kings or emperors. 
Servius reigned forty-four years, and must 
have been a wise, mild, and just ruler ; he 
was found worthy to have his name attached 
to the most important reforms in a demo- 
cratic sense ; and his enactments would, no 
doubt, have proved to the welfare of the 
State, had they been carried into effect ; but 
for the next 150 years Patricians and Ple- 
beians were involved in the most sanguinary 
contests to attain those rights, which were 
supposed to have been founded, and well 
established by Servius Tullius. 

VII. Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the last Lucii 
of the Roman Kings, may be said to have g^erbus 13 
been entirely historical. He inaugurated his 
reign by abolishing all the privileges granted 
by his predecessors to the different classes, 
especially the Plebeians. This is doubted by 



yucius 



270 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Niebuhr, because it would have been an 
advantage to Tarquin to have maintained 
the improved military class- system. He may 
possibly have left the military organization 
unaltered, and even have imposed it upon 
the Latins, although he may have abolished 
all the political rights, and thus have ruled 
with a greater and more powerful despotism. 
Historians, in carefully considering the next 
150 years of the development of Rome, will 
find that the struggle between Patricians and 
The Plebeians must have had for its foundation 

betwlen some sucn cause as rights and privileges, 
Patricians once enjoyed, and afterwards arbitrarily 
Plebeians, taken away. For a revolution occurred, and 
the constitution was not only suspended, but 
altogether abolished. Tarquinius began to 
levy arbitrary and oppressive taxes ; under- 
took immense buildings, forcing the people 
to work for very little pay. He surrounded 
himself with a body-guard ; prohibited all 
public meetings ; restricted national festivi- 
ties and religious sacrifices ; and introduced 
a despicable system of spying. He made 
use of the criminal courts of justice to oppress 
the Patricians, who had helped him to his 
throne, and brought some false accusation 
against those, who either appeared to him 
politically dangerous, or whose riches and 
His estates he coveted. He is credited with 

beautify- m having beautified the Circus, with having 
ingthe protected the town against the inundations 
of the Tiber by colossal walls, and having 
completed the subterranean canals. It is 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 271 

further stated that he finished the construction 
of the Capitol with its threefold temple, dedi- 
cated to Jupiter (the supreme god), Juno (the 
deity presiding over marriages), and Minerva 
(the goddess of intellect). Under him the 
Sibylline Books were deposited in the temple. 
" One day a Sibyl, a prophetess from Curase, The 
appeared before Tarquin, and offered to sell bSm?" 
him nine books. Upon his refusing to buy 
them, she went away and burned three, and 
then demanded the same sum for the remain- 
ing six as she had asked for the nine. But 
the king laughed, whereupon she again burnt 
three, and then demanded the same sum as 
before for the remaining three. Wondering 
at this strange conduct, the king purchased 
the books. They were placed under the 
care of two Patricians, and were consulted 
when the State was in danger." 

Tarquin waged war against the Latins, War 
and having conquered them, subdued the Vol- Q g a a b ^ 
scians with their aid. He attacked Gabii, 
a Latin city which refused to enter into the 
league. Unable to take the city by force, he 
had recourse to a stratagem. His son Sextus, 
pretending to be illtreated by his father, and 
covered with the bloody marks of stripes, 
fled to Gabii. The infatuated inhabitants en- 
trusted him with the command of their troops, 
and when he had obtained the unlimited con- 
fidence of the citizens, he sent a messenger 
to his father to inquire how he should deliver 
the city into his hands. " The king, who 
was walking in his garden when the messenger 



272 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

arrived, made no reply, but kept striking* off 
the heads of the tallest poppies with his stick. 
Sextus took the hint. He put to death or 
banished, on false charges, all the leading 
men of the place, and then had no difficulty 
in compelling the town to submit to his 
The whole father." But this whole tale is an evident 
tale is a forgery, made up of two stories related by 
forgery. Herodotus. The one about the Persian 
Zopyrus. prince Zopyrus, who mutilated himself, de- 
serted to the enemy (the Babylonians), and 
delivered them up to Darius (see Herodotus, 
Thrasy- book iii., 153-158) ; the other, of Thrasy- 
buius. bulus, tyrant of Miletus, who, when con- 
sulted by Periander, through a messenger, 
how best to govern the city, took the herald 
into a field of corn, made him repeat his 
question, and, without answering, cut off 
every ear that was taller than the rest, and 
threw it away. When the messenger re- 
turned, and was asked the answer, he said 
he received none at all, as the man to whom 
he was sent must have been mad, for he de- 
stroyed his own property. He then related 
what he had seen. Periander understood 
what Thrasybulus meant, and put to death 
the most influential citizens. (See Herodotus, 
book v., 92 — 6 and 7.) This is only one 
example of the innumerable instances in 
which use is made of incidents recorded of 
one nation or person, by later historians who 
apply them to entirely different persons at 
different periods. Such analogies must be 
sifted, and the attention of readers and 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 273 

students drawn to them, in order that proper 
caution may be exercised, and none but tho- 
roughly authenticated facts credited. 

The fact, in this account of Tarquin and Expulsion 
his son Sextus, is that the people of Rome, T f a r h uing 
tired of the tyranny of the Tarquins, expelled 
them, and constituted an aristocratic Republic 
under Lucius Junius Brutus and Tarquinius 
Collatinus. The myths about Lucretia, the 
wife of Collatinus, and Sextus, are later poeti- 
cal additions, to justify the rebellion of the 
Patricians, who wished to place the estab- 
lishment of the Republic on a high moral 
foundation. 

Of this mythic Royal period we possess no 
historical records left by the Romans. Songs 
are said to have been the only Histories, as 
with the Greeks, or the Germans, and the 
French ; but even these songs were composed 
as late as the third century B.C., nearly 300 
years after the last of the Seven Kings had 
ceased to rule. Ennius (Quintus) was born Ennius 
about 239 B.C., and Nsevius about 234 B.C.; of ^ viug 
their poems we possess only a few fragments, 
collected at later periods, and their writings 
serve us in no way as reliable sources. 

The Republican period in the political Rome * 
life of the Romans, though sanguinary and epu 
monotonous, shows us the conquerors of 
the world in their mighty and irresistible 
efforts to fulfil their historical destiny. Two 
principal elements absorbed the whole intel- 
lectual and moral activity of the Romans : — 
Politics, and Conquests leading to wars. For 



274 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

167 years after the fall of the Monarchy, the 
Republic had to be consolidated, and this 
difficult task was attained by fire and sword. 
It appears as if these 167 years had been 
spent in regaining that constitution which 
Servius Tullius had given to the Romans, and 
which had been grossly violated, and alto- 
gether abolished by Tarquinius Superbus, 
whose name marks a period of decline and 
degradation, during which the aristocratic 
Patricians struggled against the democratic 
Plebeians for the preservation of their power. 
Whilst this political evolution was taking 
its course, the Republic was invaded by the 
The Gauls Gauls, under Brennus, who broke into Italy, 
Brennus. *°°k Chiusium (Clusium) (389 B.C.), beat the 
Roman army on the river Allia, entered Rome, 
destroyed nearly the whole town, with the ex- 
ception of the Capitol, which was not exactly 
saved by " geese," as some Historians assert, 
but by the manly bravery of Marcus Manlius, 
the Consul. For one hundred and twenty 
years before Brennus invaded Rome, and for 
forty-seven years after they had freed them- 
selves from the Gauls, the people of Italy had 
Plebeians to work out their constitution. Step by step 
dam in* 1 " the Plebeians gained their right to choose 
conflict, magistrates ; to have tribunes, to make their 
voice heard by " Plebiscita" ; and at last, to 
put an end to the arbitrary administration of 
justice, they obtained Written Laws. The 
Decemviri, who had to draw up these laws, 
assumed power with which they were not 
invested, and tyrannically ruled the country, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 275 

till a revolution broke out and restored the 
ancient order. For eighty years more the 
Plebeians struggled to be permitted to be- 
come Consuls. At last, after the defeat of 
Brennus, the Democracy was victorious; even The 
the highest offices, such as those of Judges, victorious 
Praetors, iEdiles, and Priests, held for a long cracy." 
,time exclusively by Patricians, were open to 
Plebeians. United, strong and proud of their 
common liberties, inspired by their omnipo- 
tent State abstraction, for which they shed 
their blood and fought so valiantly ; to which 
they sacrificed all private sentiments and in- 
dividual comfort, the Roman Republicans 
poured their legions over the world, installed 
the God of Thunder and the God of War 
as their special gods, and began to conquer 
and to trample under foot nationality after 
nationality, and empire after empire. Every 
year, every month, every week, nay, every day 
brought some sanguinary contribution to the 
pages of History. But the one-sided develop- 
ment of the dynamic force in the Romans, 
checked only by a despotic moral law, based on 
the imaginary interests of the State, produced 
in the end the same results as the unruly De- 
mocracy in Greece ; and a slow and gradual 
dissolution of the Republic and the Empire 
itself ensued. In 342 B.C. the Romans inau- 
gurated their Heroic Period, with the first 
great war against the Samnites. The Adriatic 
was to be theirs, and they at last acquired it. 
In the meantime they extended their rule in 
Magna Grsecia, where they occupied Parthe- 

T 2 



276 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

n6pe (Palasopolis, afterwards Naples). From 
The wars 340 — 337 B.C. they subdued the Latins. From 
^ fthe , r 325 — 290 B.C. two further wars against the 

Republic. . , . . . .o 

Samnites taxed their energies, and they con- 
quered them after thirty-four years of san- 
guinary exertions. 

Fyrrhus. From 281 — 275 B.C. they waged war 
against the town of Tarentum and against 
Pyrrhus, who had dared to help the Taren- 
tines. During this period the valiant Pyrrhus 
exclaimed, "that, with Roman soldiers, it 
would be easy to conquer the world.' 5 Italy 
was at last entirely in the power of the 
Romans. Tarentum and Brundusium, the 
Umbrians and Salentines, had to submit. 
The people did not gain much in losing their 
local independence. High roads were con- 
structed, the towns regulated ; everywhere 
Roman soldiers kept order, and overawed 
the masses, who began to lose all self-reliance, 
and were deprived of every incentive to use- 
ful activity. Men grew poorer in property 
and smaller in numbers ; war took away the 
best and most vigorous members of the com- 
munity ; and, whilst the Roman Senate could 
boast of victory after victory, the people 
wasted their intellectual and bodily faculties, 
and became more and more discontented. 

Syrakuse. Syrakuse was the next point the Romans 
coveted, and they fought for it from 288 — 
264 B.C. for more than twenty years; and in 
consequence of their eagerness to possess 
Sicily, were involved in the murderous Punic 
Wars. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 277 

From 264 — 241 b.c. they were engaged Jfrrt 
in the First Punic War. War. 

At the same time the legions marched 
into Gaul, and were victorious. 

The Second Punic War lasted from 218 — Second 
201 B.C. ; during it Hannibal proved to the ^™ c 
world that it was possible to be a greater 
general than even Alexander, and yet not 
conquer the Romans, who showed an incre- 
dible vitality at moments, when everything 
seemed utterly lost. Peace was concluded 
with Carthage, but only for a short time. 

During the Third Punic War, from 149 — Third 
146 B.C., Cato's words were fulfilled, and Car- w™ 
thage was destroyed. For seventeen days 
the town was burning ; 650,000 persons are The de- 
said to have voluntarily perished ; and only Carthage^ 
50,000 saved themselves, preferring life in 
slavery to a glorious death. Scipio (the 
African) became the subject of many an epic 
poem ; he was a mighty commander, and 
cold-blooded enough to excite the admiration 
of those who are ready to worship any man 
who, by means of his intellectual and physi- 
cal powers, shows himself daring, courageous, 
and unrelenting, Scipio is said to have gazed Scipio 

.,-1,1 j_i i • x J Africanus. 

with tearless eyes on the burning town, and 
the perishing men, women, and children ; 
whilst, in full view of the horrible spectacle, 
he calmly quoted these words from Homer : 

" The day will come when holy Troy will fall." 

A new Carthage was founded by Tiberius 
Gracchus on the accursed site of the old 
town, and its construction continued by 



278 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

Julius Caesar ; but it never rose to any 
importance. 
The The Eoman arms did not rest; and Ko- 

Korm! St ° f rinthum was taken in 145 B.C. From this 
thum. date we can first begin to trace a higher 
artistic and scientific activity amongst the 
Komans. Makedonia and Greece were sub- 
jected, and became a Roman province, under 
the name of Achaia. 
Conse- One hundred and ninety-seven years were 

of the 68 spent in continuous wars with neighbouring 
conquests, hostile tribes and with foreign nations. The 
Romau Empire now comprised Spain and 
Gaul, the whole northern coast of Africa, 
Greece, and Makedonia, yet victories and 
extension of territory were the very causes 
of the inner dissolution of the State. Writers, 
readers, and students of History must in no 
way allow themselves to be dazzled by the 
admittedly great characters, that appeared 
in the Military Tragedy, enacted by the 
Romans. Their power of regulating and 
ruling was immense. They turned, as if 
by enchantment, desert places into towns, 
studded with pompous stone and marble 
buildings. They taught humanity obedience 
to the will of the stronger, and suppressed 
all individual action, that did not directly 
further the interest of the State ; and the 
State was Rome, or rather the governing 
Causes of municipal body of Rome. Yet, what were 
thedissoiu- the results of all their exertions ? Dissensions, 
Eepubiic. e troubles, and rebellions at home followed 
their conquests abroad. The Romans pre- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 279 

scribed laws to tlieir civilized citizens, and 
disgraced themselves by diplomatic cor- 
ruption in all tlieir political dealings with 
foreigners. Brute force and the right of 
might were the secret springs of their deeds. 
Family intrigues and bribery procured the 
most important places in the State. The 
more the central power expanded, the more 
it lost in vitality. In the struggle with 
foreign nations they were successful, whilst 
the feuds between Patricians, Plebeians, and 
Slaves undermined the State at home. Dic- 
tators, Consuls, Proconsuls, and Praetors, 
far away in strange lands, had to be invested 
with exceptional powers. The soldiers began The 
to feel their combined strength, and often ^^ rs of 
turned against their masters, if these neg- 
lected to court their favour. The stern 
discipline had to be relaxed. The orders of 
the distant Senate were disobeyed. The 
fighting, suffering, heroic soldiers were to be 
humoured ; they were permitted to ill-treat, 
plunder, and murder savages and barbarians ; 
to do what they liked in an enemy's country; 
and, when they returned to their homes, they 
continued to practise, what they had learned 
during their campaigns. The judges did 
not dare to punish them, not knowing when 
and where the Republic might require their 
indispensable services. In the elections votes 
became a mere question of supply and de- 
mand ; money ruled supreme — money, not Money 
acquired by honest commerce and hard work, evei 7 thin s 
but by arbitrarily imposed taxes, by robbery, 



280 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

and the plunder of conquered provinces. 
Gold and silver vessels, statues, weapons, 
and treasures of all kinds were heaped up, 
placed on cars, dragged along the Via Sacra 
(the sacred street), and exhibited in triumph 
to the blinded Roman masses, who were ac- 
customed to sacrifice their own liberty to 
Triumphs, such spectacular processions. The Senate 
and the people became as eager for triumphs 
as the Dictators and Consuls themselves; 
they became whimsical and arbitrary in all 
their political and social proceedings, pan- 
dering to the passions of the coarse military 
element, that helped them to wealth, power, 
and glory. The Patricians grew hardened 
and heartless, licentious and tyrannical ; and 
the Plebeians imitated their betters. The 
poor were looked down upon as criminals, 
and the artizans oppressed by usury. The 
laws were defied by everyone who had the 
slightest stake in the State. Luxury and im- 
morality passed all bounds ; treachery and 
cruelty forced the conquered provinces into 
open revolt ; and we see a single town, Nu- 
mantia, daring to defy the almighty power 
The of the invincible Romans. The Numantian 

Jj3gg ian troubles were followed by the first Servile 
War, which broke out in Sicily 134 B.C. ; and 
although the slaves were subdued in 132 B.C., 
the revolt lasted for two years, and sufficed 
to break the spell. Rome could be resisted. 
These internal disorders continued. The 
Gracchi, two of the most noble characters 
Rome ever produced, though belonging to 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 281 

the highest families, were sensible of the 
decay of the Republic, and wished to save 
her, and to secure property to the houseless 
and homeless masses, and were murdered in 
the attempt. Their violent death was the 
direct cause of the Civil Wars which followed 
— the War with Jugurtha, 112 — 106 B.C. ; the 
War with the Kimbri and Teutones, 113 — 
101 B.C. ; a second Servile War in Sicily, 103 
— 101 B.C. ; and the Marsic War, 90 — 89 B.C. 
The Civil Wars were interrupted by wars 
against Mithridates, a successful expedition 
in Gaul, and ended in the downfall of the The wars 
Republic and the establishment of the Em- J 1 ^^ 
pire. There were two well-defined forces at and Mi- 
work during the last seventy years of the Th^two' 
Roman Republic. The one looked longingly forces at 
back, and wished to restore the Republic to j£f me m 
her primitive aristocratic splendour, when Aristo- 
popular passions, and the ambition of the cracy * 
poor, had not yet driven the abstract State- 
body to distraction ; when no clamours for 
11 bread and amusements," for property and 
rights, for land and justice, had resounded 
in the streets of Rome. The representative 
of this force was Sulla (also written Sylla). Sulla, 
The other force, looking forward, strove to or s y lla * 
consolidate the unwieldy and mighty State 
by making its basis broader. The millions Demo- 
oi the people, the innumerable slaves, the cracy * 
nihil-habentes (those who possessed nothing) 
were to obtain an interest in the State 
through freedom, and a more equitable social 
position. The rulers were to gain power 



282 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

by diffusing power ; they were to be made 
richer by allowing others to possess ; they 
were to have no more slaves, but land- 
owners ; the violence of the aristocracy was 
to be restricted. Aristocrats, like those who 
had murdered Tiberius Gracchus at the en- 
trance of the Temple of Jupiter, the door of 
which had been barred by sympathising 
priests, were to be made to obey the laws, 
and were not to be allowed to treat every- 
one, who spoke in favour of the people, as an 
enemy of the State. The embodiment of this 
Mariusand force was Marius. Julius CLesar, the third 

TV 

Cssar. prominent character of this age, endeavoured 
to balance these forces, but was crushed by 
the power of the two conflicting elements; 
and the gigantic Roman Empire entered the 
third period, that of its decline and final 
dissolution. 
Greek and The Republican period of the Roman State 
Historians, na( ^ both Greek and Roman Historians, whose 
^ ^eir works must be read with great care. The 
' old liberty of Greece was dead. The writers, 
if Greeks, were either dependent on their 
task-masters, or had not the courage to say 
what they ought to have said, or were simply 
forbidden to do so. A state, accustomed to 
silence whole nations, had power enough to 
suppress any unfavourable comments that 
any Greek free-thinker might have dared to 
make. The books written about Rome are 
generally composed in a timid or flattering 
spirit. Adverse facts are palliated, and admi- 
ration for the military heroism of the nation 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 283 

often blinds the authors ; and they write to 
please the conquerors, use splendid rhetorical 
phrases to disguise the truth, or to indemnify 
the reader for their want of frankness. 

The following- were the most important Greek 
Greek Historians of this period. ^ Eo™ 8 

1. Polybius, born at Amphipolis or Mela- Polybius. 
gopolis in Arkadia, 203 B.C., the son of 
the Achaian Praetor Lykortas, and an inti- 
mate friend of Philopcemenes, the last cele- 
brated Greek commander. When still a youth 
he was sent as ambassador to the Egyp- 
tian king, Ptolemy Epiphanes, and went 
to Rome with other Achaian s in 166 B.C. 
Polybius travelled in Gaul, Spain, and Africa, 
and served in the third Punic War under 
Scipio (147 — 146 B.C.). He afterwards has- 
tened to join the army of Mummius, merely 
as a spectator, and witnessed the destruc- 
tion of Korinthum. In 143 B.C. he went 
to Egypt, accompanied Scipio in 134 B.C. on 
his expedition against Numantia, and died 
121 B.C., when eighty- two years old, through 
a fall from his horse. He was of a catholic 
disposition, loved humanity, and proved 
himself in his masterly writings a worthy 
intellectual descendant of Herodotus. He 
described, under the title " General History," His 
the Second Punic War down to the conquest, "General 
by the Komans, of Makedonia, under King J 
Perseus. The work was written in thirty- 
eight or forty books, of which we possess 
only the first five, and some important frag- 
ments of the next twelve. He wrote with 



284: THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

His the clear and distinct purpose to show the 

2g m causes that brought a great part of Asia, 
History. Africa, and Europe under the dominion of 
the Romans. In recording the facts of the 
past, he sought to teach politicians and mili- 
tary commanders how to rule and to fight in 
the future. He may be called the first scien- 
tific, historical Specialist ; he tries to trace 
the causes of every incident, illustrates the 
circumstances under which the phenomena 
occurred, and draws conclusions for the guid- 
ance of his readers. His style is not alto- 
gether free from an inflated phraseology, 
which he acquired during his long stay 
amongst the Romans. His chronology is 
reliable, and so are his facts. It is to be 
regretted that a work written against him by 
Skylax, of Karyand, has been lost, for it 
would have been most interesting to read 
what was said against him, in order to verify 
the correctness of his conclusions. Of the 
other grammatical, geographical, and histori- 
cal writings of Polybius, we possess only 
some few fragments. The best edition of his 
works, with critical annotations, is that of 
J. Schweighauser. Leipsic : 1789. 
Posido- 2. Posidonius, of Obiopolis, wrote a con- 

mus. tinuation of the History by Polybius down 
to the times of Pompey ; his work was princi- 
pally made use of by the Roman Historians, 
Trojus Pompejus and Justinus, and is en- 
tirely lost. 

Sexander ^' CORNELIUS ALEXANDER (generally SUr- 

' named the " Poly historian," to distinguish 



nes. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 285 

him from the elder poet, Alexander of Ephe- 
sus), lived under Sulla, and was a freedman 
of Cornelius Lentulus. He resided at Rome, 
and wrote a " History of Italy," which is lost. 

4. Theophanes, of Mitylene (59 B.C.), Theopha- 
wrote the History of his friend Pompey in 
verse. Sevin, in the ll Memoires de l'Acade- 
mie des Inscriptions " (vol. xx.), mentions 
other works by this author, but all of them 

are lost. 

5. Juba, king of Makedon, who possessed j u ba. 
a highly cultivated mind, was brought as 
prisoner to Rome, and wrote there several 
historical works, which have been lost, but 
which are mentioned in the writings of 
Plutarch, who made ample use of them. 

6. Timagenes, of Alexandria, first a prisoner Timagenes 
at Rome, then an Orator (rhetor) finally de- 
voted his talents to the study and composi- 
tion of History. He was an intimate friend 

of the Emperor Augustus, whose good graces 
he, however, lost through too much frank- 
ness ; he became the client of Asinius Pollio, 
wrote a " History of Gaul" ; a description 
of the " Circumnavigation of the Earth " in 
five books ; and another work on the first 
Roman Kings, which has principally been 
used by the Roman Historian, Curtius. Ac- 
cording to Klitarchus, Timagenes brought 
Historiography to a higher development; and 
the total loss of his writings is very much to 
be regretted. 

7. Dionysius, of Halikarnassus, in Karia, D jg 1 ?? 11B » 

or UtiliJcar- 

born about 66 B.C., came to Rome about nassus. 



286 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

30 B.C., lived there twenty-two years, and 
wrote his " Roman Archaeology " with the 
special view to console the Greeks under 
their subjugation by the Romans. He proved 
that their masters had borrowed their best 
institutions, their learning, their customs 
and manners, from the Greeks. He was well 
versed in the literature of his time ; generally 
used the best authorities ; lived in the best 
society; and deserves credit for having re- 
frained from nattering the Romans, and 
treated their ancient History with great 
His aim in severity. Like Polybius, he wishes to teach 
History by examples, and writes on the past to illus- 
that S T eaS ^ ra * e ^ ne present, and to instruct politicians, 
Polybius. generals, legislators, and the people to pre- 
pare for themselves a happy future, in avoid- 
ing all those causes that must necessarily 
be followed by pernicious effects. His style 
is not quite free from rhetorical sophistry. 
Besides a History, he wrote " Chronicles " 
(Chronika), which have been entirely lost. 
His History was written in twenty books, of 
which we possess only the first nine complete, 
parts of the tenth and eleventh, and fragments 
of the remaining. He treated Roman History 
from the oldest times down to the First Punic 
War. He was an excellent sesthetical Critic 
and Orator (rhetor). In the u Classical 
Journal" (1826, vol. xxxiv., No. 68—70, 
pages 277 — 284), readers may find an Essay 
under the title of " An Inquiry into the credit 
due to Dionysius of Halikarnassus as a Critic 
and Historian." Capponier has some excel- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 287 

lent remarks upon him in the " Menioires de 
FAcademie des Inscriptions," vol. xxxix. 

8. Diodorus, of Agyrium, in Sicily, there- Biotas 
fore surnamed Siculus, wrote, after having * us ' 
travelled over Europe and Asia, a History, 
under the title " Historia Bibliotheka," in 
forty books. It began with the Destruction 
of Troy, and came down to 60 B.C., treating 
of all the then known nations. Of this work 
we possess Books I. — v., comprising the 
mythic History of Asia, Europe, and Africa, 
complete ; of Books vi. — x. some fragments 
are extant; Books xi. — xx., containing the 
History of the Persian War with Xerxes, 
down to the successors of Alexander the 
Great, are preserved; but of the last 
twenty books only a few detached fragments 
have come down to us. His chronology is His chron- 
doubtful, and his judgment vitiated by his ? lo §y and 
seeing everything in an exclusively Greek JU smen ' 
light ; he failed to comprehend the causes of 
the differences in the religious, political, and 
social organizations of other nations, and is, 
therefore, unreliable, and often entirely mis- 
leading. But those who call the History of 
Diodorus Siculus a mere compendium of in- 
coherent myths, legends, and facts, are too se- 
vere in their criticism ; for Diodorus had some 
plan in his writings, and was undoubtedly 
the first who attempted to construct History 
on a synchronistic principle, arranging facts, Syn^on. 
as they occurred, contemporaneously in dif- ism. 
ferent nations. This enabled later Historians 
to draw analogies, one of the most instruc- 



288 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

The tive and interesting elements in the compo- 

anXgies. sition and study of History, teaching ns the 
sameness and regularity in the development 
of humanity under the law of causation. 
That Diodorus's first attempt at a synchro- 
nistic History was not altogether faultless, 
does not lessen his merit. De Caylus, in his 
essay, u Sur les Historiens en general, et sur 
Diodore de Sicile en particulier,'' in the 
" Menioires de PAcad&nie des Inscriptions," 
vol. xxvii., gives a correct and just estimate 
of this Historian. 
The History was one of the branches of litera- 

Historlans. ^ ure mos ^ cultivated by the Romans. The 
principal language with the educated classes 
was Greek, and this went so far, that in 
order to understand the comic plays, writ- 
ten in Latin, a knowledge of Greek was 
essential. The Patricians all spoke and 
wrote exclusively in Greek. From the very 
beginning of their social consolidation, the 
Romans had a love for Greek ideas, forms, ex- 
pressions, and sentiments ; and under Greek 
influences their language gradually devel- 
oped, like their State. With the expansion 
of the territory, the purity and pliability of 
the Roman tongue increased. Not only Pa- 
tricians, but also Plebeians and even slaves, 
began to study and to read. The knowledge 
Beading of Greek, and reading and writing Latin, 
writing in became by degrees so general, that it was no 
Eome. particular merit or advantage to have, what 
we in England would call, a good education. 
Slaves, freedmen, and strangers, were gene- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 289 

rally the teachers of the Roman youth, and Greek, the 
spread amongst them more humane ideas in ahSw^ 
Greek, for as yet no Roman literature existed, education. 
But, like everything else, knowledge with 
the Romans was considered of no use, if it 
could not be turned to some practical jDurpose. 
The higher culture of the mind ajDpeared to 
them to be a mere ornament; to think, to 
speak, and to act for the common weal, was 
the most important occupation of a Roman ; 
and the fulfilment of his duty as a patriot, 
his exclusive bodily and intellectual object. 
We cannot help admiring the stern simplicity 
of Roman manners ; their haughty national 
self-reliance, the disinterested love of their 
country, which they showed at the beginning 
of their national life, and which manly 
virtues forcibly contrasted with the vile 
cringing, and humble submissiveness of the 
Greeks, who continually quarrelled amongst 
themselves, and fell under the yoke of foreign 
rulers. The Greeks, at a later period of 
their national existence, devoted their ener- 
gies to the culture of arts and sciences, and 
neglected politics ; the Romans concentrated 
their national force to promote the grandeur 
and glory of their country ; they all stood 
one for all and all for one ; they all fought 
and either conquered, or fell together. In the 
social and national cohesion of the Romans, influence 
Historians can find the secret cause of the ^^1 
peculiar development of their literature. To cohesion on 
promote this cohesion was the purpose of Literature. 
every word spoken and written amongst 



290 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

them. Care for the State absorbed the indi- 
vidual ; for the individual had only so much 
value as the State granted to him. This was 
the cause why Rhetoric was so highly cul- 
tivated. To address the masses, to induce 
them to take up arms, and to excite them to 
a common action ; to gain their suffrages ; to 
expose a traitor, or to defend a man who 
had been accused of treachery, were, in the 
estimation of the Roman public, the highest 
possible duties ; but the most sacred was to 
be ready to sacrifice oneself and the whole of 
one's family in fighting and dying for the be- 
nefit of the State. The Roman was a talking 
Politics and acting political machine. Politics with- 
Histury. ou ^ historical knowledge are impossible ; and 
though historical knowledge in the service of 
politics must necessarily be biassed and one- 
sided, at least its cultivation is indispensable. 
This is the reason why History was the more 
studied, the more the life of the people be- 
came public. With the Romans, Rhetoric 
led to History. The very element that had 
been detrimental in Greece to true History, 
Rhetorical namely, " rhetorical Dialectics," formed the 
Dialectics. f oun d a tion on which Roman History was 
constructed. Dialectics, legal niceties, in- 
flated phrases, pompous metaphors, witty 
allegories, passion, and frenzy, were the 
component elements of Rhetoric with the 
Romans, toned down by grammatical and 
syntactical smoothness, and the wholesome 
care, never to say anything that might be 
displeasing to the patriots, or the party in 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 291 

power. These elements were largely used 
by them in History, and have been and will 
be used by all those nations who place them- 
, selves above Humanity, and live in the proud National 
conviction that, " Extra Romam non est vita ; p 
si est vita, non est ita." (Out of Rome there 
is no life ; if there be life, it is not like it.) 
History with the Romans was a means to ex- 
cite patriotic enthusiasm. Facts were given ; 
but if unfavourable, they were either dis- 
guised, or altogether passed over in silence, 
so as not to offend the patriotic sensitiveness 
of the Roman people. No one must look for 
genuine historical compositions under such 
influences. But if we become aware of these 
tendencies in the writers of a certain period 
and nation, we may still read and use them 
with profit ; for we are enabled to discern 
the inordinate national conceit, which leads 
attitudinizing historical writers to strive to 
assert in every second line: — -"We do this 
better in Rome, or France, or England ! " and 
our knowledge of their mental bias makes 
us receive these boastful exclamations with 
proper caution. We learn to direct our judg- 
ment to events and their causes, and not 
to individual assertions, in however splen- 
did a dialectical form they may be uttered. 
We endeavour to draw our conclusions 
from facts and their effects, and seek moral 
and political wisdom in deeds, and not in 
words. Down to the time of Cicero, there t^TtinS 
were no Roman Historians. Cicero was the Cicero, no 
first who gave some practical hints on the Historians 

u 2 



292 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

method of writing History. Prior to the 
period of the dissolution of the Republic, An- 
nals were compiled, victories registered and 
dated, and laws and enactments recorded. 
No time was left for philosophising. With 
the exception of the few Greek writers, whom 
we have mentioned above, History was a 
detached, disconnected catalogue of deeds. 
No one had leisure to meditate on the ever- 
changing and shifting historical scenes that 
followed one another, like so many gladiato- 
rial fights in the arena. Cornelius Nepos 
was looked upon by Catullus as the first 
Roman historian, who took the Greeks for 
his model. Cornelius exclaims, satirically, in 
the preface to his work, u that many will 
think this kind of writing trifling in its nature, 
and not sufficiently adapted to the characters of 
eminent men, when they shall find it related 
who taught Epaminondas music, or see it 
numbered among his accomplishments, that 
he danced gracefully, and played skilfully on the 
flutes* But these will be such, for the most 
part, as, being unacquainted with Greek litera- 
ture, will think nothing right but what agrees 
with their oivn customs" The uneducated 
and technically-distorted minds, the super- 
stitious and fanatically-blinded, will always 
despise History. Those who looked down 
upon other nations with contempt, could not 
believe that patriotism, true morals, honesty 

* The plural "flutes" is used, because the Greeks and the 
Romans played on different kinds of flutes, and often on two at 
once. (See Smith's " Classical Dictionary ; " Tibia.) 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 293 

of character, perseverance and earnestness of 
purpose, might exist in a citizen, who could 
dance gracefully. The Romans had to learn, 
too late, that self-conscious culture and ex- 
panded knowledge are forces in a nation, and 
cannot be neglected with impunity. They 
suddenly rushed into breathless activity, to- 
wards the end of their Republican existence, 
and paved the way for a despotic Imperial- 
ism, and an artificial literature. 

It would be wrong to assume that Roman Sources of 
History had its beginning in popular songs, j^ an 
for it distinctly originated in prose. Royal History, 
laws, commentaries on the enactments of 
Numa, commercial treaties, family monu- 
ments, inscriptions on tombs, the Twelve Tables 
of the laws, orders given by consuls, the 
Annals of the high priests, and the so-called 
u Acta diuma populi Romani" (the first official 
State paper under the title " Daily Deeds 
of the Roman people,") and the " Minutes 
of the Senate "(Acta Senaffls), were the prin- 
cipal sources of the first annalists. The 
Romans had neither mythographers nor logo- 
graphers ; they had at once legislators who 
registered their resolutions as brief and pe- 
remptory commands. Little has come down 
to our times of these documents ; and the 
writings of the annalists who used them, 
their registers, and chronicles, are nearly 
all lost, with the exception of some scanty 
fragments. 

Among the Roman Annalists were many Roman 
distinguished and influential men, of whom Annalidt3 - 



294: THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

we will mention the most important before 
we proceed to analyse the writings of the 
first real Roman historiographers. 
Quintals (#.) The most ancient known Annalist 

Kcu J|? amongst the Romans was Quixtus Fabius 
Pictoe, about 220 b.c. He wrote "Annals 
of Rome" from JEneas, and the Foundation 
of Rome, down to his own times. He regis- 
tered tacts, but without any critical discern- 
ment. Livy made use of him. He is said 
to have also written " Annals of Rome' in 
Greek. 
Lucius (b.) Lucius Cixcius Alimextus, a contem- 

ai£S!L b porarv of Fabius Pictor, wrote reliable 
Annals, with reference to the foundation of 
Rome, in Greek. Only a few fragments are 
extant, 
caius (c) Caius Acilius Glabeio, about 166 b.c, 

oiabrio. a Senator and Quaestor, wrote, in Greek, a 
History of Rome, from its foundation down 
to his own times ; Livy quotes him. 
Marcus (d.) Mabcus Porcius Cato Cexsoeius, 236 
^onius — j^q B c ^ wag one o £ t ^ e m0 st honourable 

Censorius. and celebrated statesmen, military chiefs, 
orators, and agriculturists, Rome ever pro- 
duced. He insisted upon the stern morals of 
the gocd old times, and was highly praised 
by Cicero, Quinctilian, Brutus, and Pliny. 
He wrote a History, in seven books, the 
contents of which are referred to by Cor- 
nelius Xepos and Pliny, who both criticise 
the work. 

Aliens u \ Angus Posthoius Albixus, Censor in 

x ostii timus 

Albums. 175 B.C., and Consul with Lucullus in 152 B.C., 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 295 

wrote in Greek and advocated a more dili- 
gent study of that language for which he 
was laughed at by Cato ; Cicero, however, 
praises him. Several works written in Latin, 
all of them Annals, were ascribed to him. 

(/.) Caius F annuls, 140 B.C., was Quaestor Cams 
in 138 B.C., and wrote his Annals in a more 
refined style ; they were quoted by Brutus. 

(g.) Six more names are given, of authors Lucius 
who all wrote in the style of mere registrars, Libo b .° nmS 
though Lucius Scribonius Libo is said to 
have compiled his Annals in fourteen books 
with greater care and in more elegant 
language. 

(h.) Lucius Ccelius Antipater, published JmAub 
a good and trustworthy History of the Antipater. 
Second Punic War, of which M. Brutus gives 
extracts. 

{i.) PUBLIUS SEMPRONIUS AsELLIO is men- Publiua 

tioned as having treated his Annals with less n i e ^ pro " 
dryness ; and seems, from the Preface to his Aseiiio. 
History, in fourteen books, to have had some 
higher aim in writing his work. 

(./.) Sulla, the well-known Dictator, wrote Suiia, and 
a History in Greek, which he left his freed- Ep^adus 8 
man, Cornelius Epicaclus, to finish. 

(k. ) Titus Pomponius Atticus was praised Titus Pom- 
for his Annals, embracing 700 years of Ho- Atticus. 
man History. They are based on a careful 
study of available monuments and docu- 
ments, and distinguished by impartiality and 
a more critical discernment. 

Of all these Annals we possess frag- . 
ments; but these writings, as a whole, are, 



296 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

more or less, mere catalogues, and are cer- 
tainly not, what Macaulay would call, His- 
tory. They do not impress u general truths 
on the mind by a vivid representation of 
particular characters and incidents ; " they 
are a kind of raw material, which Historians 
may turn to some account, as was done 
to a high degree by the following Roman 
Historians, who wrote at a moment when 
Republican Rome was distracted by internal 
factions : — 
Cornelius (1.) Cornelius Nepos was a friend of Ca- 
Nepos. tullus, Cicero, and Pomponius Atticus, and 
little more than this is known of him. Most 
of his works are lost. The fragments which 
we possess afford ample proofs of his superior 
genius, and are written in a masterly style. 
The works He wrote " Chronicles," in three books 
iiuSepos ( u ^ ron ^ corum Libri") ; five books of (histori- 
cal) Examples (" Libri Exemplorum ") ; sixteen 
books on the Lives of Celebrated Men ("Libri 
Virorum Illustrium ") ; a book on Historians 
("Liber de Historicis ") ; a Life of Marcus Por- 
cius Cato, and one of Cicero ; several books of 
Letters, addressed to Cicero, and answered 
by him ; and a work under the title, " Lives 
of Distinguished Rulers" (" Vitce excellentium 
The au- Imperatorum"). The authenticity of the latter 
lf 6 the Clty work has been disputed, and it has been 
« Lives" ascribed to a certain iEmilius Probus, who 
jEmiiius lived under Theodosius the Great, about 
Probus. 375 A#D#? instead of to Cornelius Nepos. 
Probus is said to have made extracts from 
the writings of Cornelius Nepos and some 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 297 

# 

Greek authors, and to have published these 
historical compilations under the name of the 
former. According to others (especially H. 
Meyer), the book was written in the second 
century after Christ by an unknown author, 
who intended to give a summary of the His- 
tory of Cornelius Nepos for the use of schools. 
At the head, however, of the edition, by 
JEmilius Probus, stands an epigram, in which 
it is said that he only continued to copy a 
book, which copy was begun by his grand- 
father, carried on by his mother, and which 
he calls U E libro posterior 'e Cornelii Nepotis" 
(from a book left by Cornelius Nepos). If 
this be true, Probus may have published 
the " Vitce" of Cornelius Nepos for the intel- 
lectual improvement of his contemporaries. 
The authorship of this work is not yet de- 
termined by critics, antiquarians, and com- 
mentators. That there are spurious writings, 
erroneously attributed to Cornelius Nepos, 
cannot be doubted. The work in question 
appears to have been written with the ob- 
ject of producing an enthusiastic excitement 
amongst the Romans, principally through 
biographical sketches of Greek statesmen 
and heroes. Professor Mommsen says : u The Professor 

r • i i r ii • • j • 1*1 Mommsen 

historiography ot this period is m a nigh on the 
degree characteristic, but as dreary as the Historic-, 
period itself. The intermixture of Greek tMs P period. 
and Latin literature shows itself in no field 
so clearly as in History; in it the two 
literatures were principally assimilated in 
matter and shape> and the uniform concep- 



298 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

tion of the Helleno-Italian History, which 
Polybius first formed in advance of his 
times, was now taught to every Roman boy 
in school. Yet, though the Mediterranean 
State had a Historian when unconscious of 
its own self, now that it reached conscious- 
ness, neither amongst the Greeks nor Ro- 
mans was anyone to be found who could 
have given proper expression to it. Cicero 
says : • Roman History does not exist,' and, 
as far as we can judge, this is nothing but 
the simple truth. Inquiry shrinks from His- 
tory, and History from inquiry. The histo- 
rical literature fluctuates between schoolbook 
and novel. All the pure poetical produc- 
tions, Epos, Drama, Lyrics, and History, are 
nothing in this meaningless time ; but in no 
branch does the intellectual decline of the 
Ciceronian period reflect itself in so fearful a 
clearness as in Historiography." * Notwith- 
standing the polished language in which the 
works of this period were written, and in 
spite of the higher aim which inspired Cor- 
nelius Nepos, we must fully concur with this 
view. History with the Romans was rarely 
written for truth's sake, but for some political 
or educational purpose, or some individual 
or general interest. This is still more appa- 
rent in the writings of 
Julius (2.) Julius Cesar, born 100 B.C., murdered 

44 B.C.; the conqueror of 1,000 towns, and 
victor in 500 battles, was in every respect a 

* See Professor Mommsen's "Roman History" (" Eomische 
Geschichte ,, ) } vol. iii., page 599. 



Caesar. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 299 

genius — one of those brilliant intellectual 
meteors that shoot across the horizon of His- 
tory. Caesar was well versed in Greek and 
Roman literature, and his style was precise, 
short, and impressive. He had the same com- 
mand over his phrases as over his troops. 
His thoughts took corresponding forms in 
words. He could describe a whole campaign 
in three words, u Veni, vidi, vicV (I came, I 
saw, I conquered), as he did when he defeated 
Pharnaces, King of the Bosphorus, a son of 
Mithridates the Great. Of the many writ- His 
ings, or rather military reports, addressed by wntin s s - 
a democratic general to the people, who en- 
trusted him with power, only fragments have 
come down to our times. Of the u Commen- 
tarii de Bello Gallico " (Commentaries on the 
Gallic War), we possess seven books, and of 
the u De Bello Civile" (the Civil War), three 
books. The eighth book of the u De Bello 
Gallico" and the three books of the Alexan- 
drian, African, and Spanish Wars, were al- 
ready, in ancient times, ascribed to Hirtius or 
Appius. The " Commentaries " of Caesar 
were undoubtedly modelled after Xenophon's Xenophon 
"Anabasis" (see page 188); but there was ^ d s ^ Uus 
a wide and marked difference between the 
writings of Julius Caesar and those of Xeno- 
phon. The latter had only facts in view, he 
nowhere intrudes with his personal glorifica- 
tion ; he was conscious of the peculiar position 
which he held at the head of his army, and 
gives us his account as an impartial spectator 
who records what he sees, with the greatest 



300 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

objective accuracy. Caesar, on the contrary, 
wrote in an entirely different spirit. His 
soldiers are never taken into consideration ; 
they had to fight for his sake ; they had to 
gain laurels, with which their commander 
was to crown his brow ; they were noughts, 
and Csesar the unit ; his person is therefore 
Caesar's the subjective centre-figure. He writes every 
writing li ne with the distinct aim to palliate his 
History, unconstitutional proceedings ; for he set out, 
without any orders, to conquer a vast country, 
and made use of this pretext to augment his 
army, in order to use it in proper time for his 
own purposes. He is frank, open, and de- 
serves credit, whenever he reports facts that 
do not concern or cross his personal plans. 
He does not shrink from mentioning his cruel 
oppression of all those whom he conquered, 
for he sought thus to intimidate the Senate, 
and to show the Roman people that they had 
in him a man who would not hesitate to em- 
ploy any means to acquire dominion, if called 
upon to take the government into his strong 
hands. History, written in such a spirit, is 
only so far interesting as it furnishes us with 
Csesar, a great partizan's party- views. Like the 
S^Great History written by Frederick the Great, 
of Prussia, King of Prussia, or the Bulletins of Napo- 
Napoieon l eon I-j when Emperor of France, such a 
i. of work enables us to form an opinion of the 
character of the author, and the views he 
took of certain events. Csesar stands, how- 
ever, far above Frederick the Great and 
Napoleon, for he either wrote himself or 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 301 

dictated his works, and never condescended 
to excuse his own actions with false senti- 
mental phrases. Neither artificial humani- 
tarian assertions, nor haughty boasts disgrace 
his pages. In his " Commentaries " we may 
trace a bright and hopeful mood. The 
writer is perfectly conscious of his intellectual 
superiority, and is convinced that he is using 
all his powers for a noble and generous aim. 
This hopefulness is also to be observed, 
though in a less degree, in his books on 
" The Civil War." We can here clearly 
perceive his hesitation; he would fain have 
avoided extremes, and thought that he would 
be able to gain all he strove for, without 
bloodshed and a conflict of citizens against 
citizens. The Senators, in their very cowar- 
dice, prevented this, and his loftier hopes 
were baffled by gloomy and unexpected 
events. The beauty and simplicity of his char's 
style are not even surpassed by Cicero's style * 
powerful handling of the Roman language, 
although the latter is considered, on account 
of the correctness in the composition of his 
periods, and the fulness of his dialectics, as 
the greatest master of prose-writing. Yet 
we have no better model in ancient litera- 
ture than the historical style of Julius Cassar. 
The style, however, may be irreproachable, 
though the History itself may be unreliable 
through a biassed purpose. 

(3. ) Caius Sallustius Crispus was born Caius 
86 b.c. at Amiternum, in the country of the c^ 11 ^ 118 
Sabines, and died 34 b.c. He was, in spite 



302 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

of his dissolute private and political life, one 
of the most distinguished Roman Historians. 
He was expelled from the Senate, but was 
reinstated by Julius Caesar, whose party he 
joined, and who made him Governor of 
Numidia, where he amassed immense riches 
through extortions, and a cruel oppression of 
the people. When he returned to Rome, he 
collected works of art, built palaces, and sur- 
rounded them with splendid gardens. He 
took Thukydides for his model, in his his- 
torical works, and attempted to be equally 
impartial ; but he could not divest himself of 
the pernicious influences of the times in which 
he lived, and may be said to reflect, more than 
any of the other Roman writers, the sunken 
moral state of the dying Roman Republic. 
His style He paints, in his gloomy mood, black blacker. 

tendency. ^ e sees n0 redeeming points in humanity. 
Cornelius Nepos had not yet lost all hope. 
He placed the grand characters of the Greeks 
before his nation to rouse his compatriots to 
emulation. He paints, in his cheerful dispo- 
sition, rose rosier. Of the numerous works 
of Sallustius (Sallust), we possess only the 
History of the War against Jugurtha, and 
the History of the Suppression of Catiline's 
Conspiracy. Having only seen the dark side 
of humanity, Sallust is bitter, angry, and ex- 
cited ; but he has passages that afford us a 
deep insight into the state of society which 

Thukydi- produced such a Historian. Thukydides 

sallustius ^^ no ^ mere ty describe a depraved and ego- 
tistical life — smooth and refined on the sur- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 303 

face, but hollow and worthless in reality ; he 
knew that there were nobler, higher, and 
truly sublime elements in humanity, which, if 
properly cultivated, made man worthy of his 
manhood. He firmly believed in pure love, 
honest friendship, self-denying virtue, and 
disinterested patriotism. Sallust saw nothing 
but intrigues, falsehoods, wickedness, licen- 
tiousness, and moral degeneracy ; and even 
attributed to everything good in man a per- 
nicious and despicable motive. He praised 
talent and cleverness without virtue, and 
believed in the geniality of corruption. He 
is the model writer of all those fanatics who, 
blinded by religious superstition, can see 
only evil in man, and curse the depravity of 
their age, whilst they themselves, like Sal- 
lust, live a life of utter degradation, propped 
up by sentimental hypocrisy. He serves 
further as a model to all those who write 
party pamphlets, or vigorous and sophistical 
diatribes, exaggerating the merits of those 
to whose party they belong, and abusing and 
distorting all that is good in their opponents. 
Action and reaction are necessary in political 
life, for without them there would be no pro- 
gress. But the Historian has to stand above Historians 
party strife. Men with small minds, con- ! u ^^ 
torted brains, and narrow hearts, are always party- 
found to be violent party men, incapable of strlfe * 
understanding or grasping, from a higher 
point of view, the mighty " oneness " of 
Humanity. They find a charm in violent 
extremes, and are either advocates of coarse 



304 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

severity, or an over-refined sentimentality. 
Historians belonging to such party groups 
are never reliable. Writers and students of 
History must, if they wish for honest infor- 
mation, take the trouble to read the works 
of both sides. The historical writings of Sal- 
lust form admirable genre pictures, hazy in 
colour, and sharp in outline. He was rather 
a deep-feeling poet than a true Historian, 
and never troubled himself to find a causal 
connection in the phenomena he described. 

Marcus (4.) MARCUS VALERIUS MeSSALA CoRVINUS, 

Meis^u was born 79 B.C., and studied philosophy at 

Corvmus. Athens with Cicero's son. He joined the 
party of Brutus and Cassius against Caesar, 
and at a later period became the friend of 
Augustus. He died about the year 3 or 4 a.d. 
He was far more celebrated as an orator 
than as a historian ; though it is impossible 

His works to judge of his works, as they are all lost. 

are ail lost. pi u t arc h anc [ Pliny made use of them. He 

must have been what Sallust was on the 
Caesarian side, a party writer of the opposi- 
tion. He wrote on the Civil War, and a 
genealogical work on " Roman Families" 
" De Romanis familiis" quoted by Pliny. 
The total loss of a third work, u De auspiciis " 
(on Signs), or " De explanatione auguriorum" 
(Explanation of Divination), is very much to 
be regretted, for it must have given us a 
deep insight into the religious feelings of 
the Romans, who never had priests in the 
Indian, Egyptian, Persian, or even Greek 
sense ; but only political leaders, who used 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 305 

religion in the interest of the State. Reli- The 
oion with the Romans was a political 2ell 6 r \o^ s 

o • I principles 

machine, handled with great cleverness by ofthe 
some Patrician families. Ceremonies and Romaris - 
sacrifices were prescribed and regulated by 
the State. Religion, in the sense of moral con- 
viction and an emotional trust in the gods, 
was unknown to the Romans. The supreme 
college of five members was composed of 
State officials ; and the second College of 
" Augurs " (soothsayers or diviners), who saw 
the future in the flight of birds, was formed 
neither of impostors nor priests, but of 
officials whose duty it was to foster supersti- 
tion in the people, in order to make them 
blindly subservient to the will of the govern- 
ment. When Roman Augurs met, they 
could afford to laugh at their own ceremonies 
and incantations ; yet they performed them 
with earnest pomp, as necessary to the 
power of the governing classes. Neither 
emotion, leading to poetical feelings, nor 
reason, leading to science, was cultivated by 
the Roman priests ; they were never able to 
raise man above the cares and drudgery of 
every- day life ; on the contrary, they kept 
the people, by means of dry formulae, under 
the authority of the State. 

(5.) Titus Livius (Livy), of Padua, born Titus 
59 B.C., lived at Rome, and was the teacher Livlu8 - 
of Claudius. He retired to Naples to work 
there in greater security, as he was sus- 
pected by Augustus of being a partizan of 
Pompey. After the death of the latter, he re- 



306 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

turned to Rome, where he died about 19 a. d. 
His works. He wrote " Dialogues," which were partly 
historical and partly philosophical, and in 
which he professed himself (according to 
Seneca) an Epikurean ; a book under the 
title, u Epistola ad Filium " (A Letter to my 
Son), containing rhetorical dissertations \ 
and, finally, his great historical work, which 
he called " Annates" in 143 books, of which 
we only possess thirty-five. The numbers 
extant are: — Books i. — x., xx. — xlv., and 
fragments of Books xci. and cxx. The work 
comprised the History of Rome, from the 
Foundation of the City to the death of Drusus, 
10 B.C., and was one of the most interesting 
histories of the time. Livy was neither 
satirical and epigrammatic, like Sallust ; nor 
smooth and forbearing like Nepos ; nor terse 
and impressive like Csesar ; he wrote for the 
masses, following Cicero's advice in the com- 
position of History, and was, above all, popu- 
lar and rhetorical. He did not write History 
for the few selected intellects of the nation, 
but for the emotional element in the people, 
whom he wished to impress with higher sen- 
timents. Not systematically to teach, but 
to interest in the highest possible degree, 
was his laudable aim. He was taken as a 
model by modern French Historians, who 
give us their own views as to what may 
possibly have happened, or vague asser- 
tions as to how facts ought to have occurred 
rather, than how they really took place. But 
Livy stands far above the modern French 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 307 

Historians, for he shows in his pages deep 
feelings, noble sentiments, and the dignity 
of firm moral principles. He was not witty, 
like the French, who often sacrifice historical 
truth to a spirited remark; he did not de- 
spise ancient legends, or fill his books with 
accounts of petty intrigues, cabals, anec- 
dotes, or vapid personalities. The whole 
tone of his work is serious, and it deservedly 
became national property ; serving later ge- 
nerations as a model of elegance in historical 
composition. We must not seek in Livy a 
scientific treatment of History. Astrology 
preceded astronomy ; alchemy was the fore- 
runner of chemistry; imaginative priestly 
accounts of the creation of the world were 
believed in, long before geology was at- 
tempted ; and miraculous supernatural agen- 
cies were assumed, which only in time led 
to the study of medicine. It was exactly so in 
History. We are only now enabled to place 
the complicated phenomena of History on 
a scientific basis. Livy wished to impress 
the Romans, and he could not well have 
taken Herodotus for his model ; Thukydides 
had been used by Sallust and Cornelius 
Nepos ; and Xenophon by Caesar ; he there- 
fore turned to Ephorus, Theopompus, and 
others, who were the outgrowth of the dialec- 
tical school of Isokrates. (See page 203.) 

We may, finally, mention here Trojus Trojus 
Pompeius, though he belongs to the third, or Pum i )eius - 
Imperial, period. He was born 10 B.C., and 
wrote, in Latin, a "History of the World," 

x 2 



308 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Justin. 



The third 
Period of 
Roman 
history. 



Marcus 
Tullius 
Cicero. 



in forty-four books, which was abridged by 
Justin, 160 a.d. Trojus Pompeius forms 
the transition link between the Republican 
and the Imperial Historians. Rhetoric gave 
place to mere Dialectics ; the phrase be- 
came everything ; and, unfortunately, the 
oratorical swayed all the branches of Litera- 
ture and Science. No heed was taken of 
facts, and even less attention paid to their 
mutual relation. Certain real incidents were 
treated in a poetical spirit, whilst others 
were altogether ignored ; the miraculous and 
supernatural gained the upper hand, and 
everything was sacrificed to style. The ma- 
terials which Pompeius used, were generally 
taken from the Greeks. He blamed Sallust 
and Livy, for having given long direct 
speeches to their characters, and inserted his 
in an indirect or oblique way, which was, to a 
certain extent, an improvement. (See our 
remarks on this point, page 169.) In spite 
of this apparently more conscientious treat- 
ment of History, the writings of Trojus 
Pompeius are unreliable as to facts and 
dates. 

In entering upon the third Imperial period 
of Rome, we must draw the attention of 
our readers to a man who, though not a 
Historian, has contributed very largely, by 
his writings, to further a correct understand- 
ing of his times. This writer was Mar- 
cus Tullius Cicero. A whole library, of 
considerable extent, might be formed, if all 
the works, translations, commentaries, bio- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 309 

graphies, and panegyrics, relating to this one 
Roman writer, were collected. He was born 
106 B.C., and educated at Rome by Greeks. 
His masters were the poet Archias, the Pla- His 
tonic philosopher Philo, the Stoic Diodotus, teachers - 
and the orator, Molon, of Rhodes. Roman 
Law was, however, taught him by the Roman, 
Quintus Mucius Scsevola, the Augur, one of 
the most celebrated advocates of his time. 
Cicero made his first public speech when 
twenty-six years old. Two years afterwards, 
79 B.C. he visited Greece and Asia Minor, 
and continued his studies under the most 
celebrated Greek teachers ; amongst whom 
were Antiochus, the philosopher, and Deme- 
trius, the orator. Plato was Cicero's idol ; 
yet he was in life a Stoic, or, rather, an 
Epikurean. His Roman nationality, Greek 
education, and unsettled philosophical prin- 
ciples explain his versatility, and the various 
results which he attained. He changed His 
the Roman character, and brought eloquence, mft ^ nce 
poetry, arts, and sciences, founded on Greek Romans. 
models, to perfection. Aided by the force of 
his mighty intellect, Cicero must be looked 
upon as the creator of the so-called Augus- 
tan, or golden age of Roman literature. 

He w r as the first Roman who succeeded 
in making his writings and public speeches 
amusing and exciting ; he was eloquent and 
philosophical ; diplomatic and practical ; and 
his influence on the Historians of the Imperial 
period was immense. Cicero was courageous ; His 
for during the reign of terror that ensued, 



courage. 



810 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

when Marius and Cinna formed a coalition, 
it was very dangerous to be a public speaker, 
more especially when distinguished. Many 
had to pay tor their talents with their lives. 
In this terrible time Cicero devoted him- 
self to oratory with unequalled success, but 
was far more than a mere orator. There 
was between Greeks and Romans, at that 
period, nearly the same difference that is 
found to exist between the Germans and 
French of our times. The Greeks were not 
contented with mere subtle technicalities, 
brilliant phrases, and elaborate periods, like 
the ancient Romans and modern French ; 
they wished also to know the fundamental 
principles of every occurrence, to have each 
incident reduced to its primary cause or 
causes, like the modern Germans ; and Cicero 
endeavoured to interest his countrymen as 
much in polished outer-forms as in philoso- 
phical researches. 
His love of Whatever may be said of his fickleness, and 
ree om. ^q ease with which he often changed princi- 
ples, (these were more the faults of his time 
than his own), we cannot help admiring his 
love of freedom and his fearless opposition to 
tyranny and aristocracy. It is true that he 
showed this more in spirit and opinion, than 
His hatred in deeds. He hated Caesar, because he saw 

of Caesar. • i • ^ ' ^ i •±^ t^ 

m nim an usurper ; be sided with Fompey, 
though he did not trust him, because he 
looked upon him as less dangerous to the 
constitutional freedom of the State. He saw 
through Caesar's ambition, always stood aloof 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 311 

from him, and could never be persuaded to 
accept office under him. In the terrible con- 
fusion that preceded the total dissolution of 
the Roman Republic, Cicero took the part of 
the democrats. He espoused the cause of 
Brutus, and heartily approved of Caesar's 
murder, immoral though it was. He blessed 
the Ides of March, and wrote, " Hitherto Cicero on 
nothing pleases me except the Ides of March" March* ° f 
(on which Caesar was assassinated). " What- 
ever perils they may endure, our heroes 
(meaning Brutus and Cassius, and the other 
chief conspirators) have one great consola- 
tion—the consciousness of their act." He 
went further, and showed that a polished, 
oratorically and philosophically trained Ro- 
man mind, might be cruel and unrelenting ; 
for he wrote to Cassius, "O that you had 
invited me to the feast of the Ides of March : 
there would have been no remains /" The 
cowardly assassination of a noble man was to 
the great orator a mere feast, and the sentence, 
which we give in italics, meant, that they 
ought to have put to death Antony, in whom 
he saw an enemy to the common welfare, 
even more dangerous than Caesar. 

In his letters Cicero has left us ample The letters 
material, by the aid of which we are able to of Cicero - 
decipher the mysteries of his times. To 
communicate ideas, observations, reflections, 
or passing remarks, was natural to the edu- 
cated Romans, and Cicero did this with 
genuine elegance and philosophical depth. 
His letters are indispensable to a correct 



312 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Professor 
Scblosser 
on Roman 
Historio- 
graphy. 



Beasons 
why the 
Romans 
had at first 
only 

Annals and 
Memoirs. 



appreciation of the spirit of his times. The 
frankness and cunning, generosity and mean- 
ness, tenderness of feeling and cruelty of 
opinion in them, reflect the confused state of 
Roman society. Hope and despair, irresolu- 
tion and sanguinary decisions, succeed one 
another through the pages of these writings, 
notwithstanding their apparent lightness. 
They are a faithful mirror of the general 
feelings, pervading all the layers of Eoman 
society, for even the slaves argued, reasoned, 
and rebelled. 

" The tone of society," says Professor 
F. Chr. Schlosser, " together with the ora- 
torical tendency of the Roman nation, and 
the importance with which some single per- 
sons in the State were invested, gave History 
at the time of Cicero, and already before 
him, quite a particular character. Biogra- 
phies and memoirs occupied a prominent 
place. This kind of Historiography, in 
which the writers try to record not only 
facts, but also the motives which led to them, 
representing incidents, not so much in their 
relation to the entire nation, as to their own 
individuality, was quite unknown in early 
Greek literature, and appeared only in the 
Alexandrian times." That the Romans who 
previously had no other historical works but 
Annals and Chronicles, should have forth- 
with written Biographies and Memoirs, was 
due to several reasons, of which two are the 
most obvious. 

(1.) The Romans, till shortly before 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 313 

Cicero's times, were entirely without philoso- 
phy, and any deeper knowledge of the world. 
This had a pernicious influence on Historio- 
graphy, and restricted it to dry records of 
traditional incidents and strange occurrences. 

(2.) The composition of Histories which 
treated of events, depending more on single 
individuals, than on the will of the whole 
nation, was far behind the wants of the read- 
ing public ; and the people, although beyond 
the purely biographical stage, had not yet 
acquired a taste for General History. 

Cicero felt this, and strove to further a 
higher tone in literature by advising His- 
torians to trace, above all, the causes, rela- 
tions, and connections of facts, so as to draw 
a distinction between Annals and History. 

His death was as instructive as the whole of Cicero's 
his life. When Brutus had been vanquished, death * 
and the second Triumvirate formed by Octa- 
vian, Antony, and Lepidus, the three entered 
into a solemn compact to the effect that 
" Octavian was to give up Cicero to death ; 
Lepidus, his own brother Paulus; and An- 
tony, his uncle Lucius Caesar." u Thus,'' 
says Plutarch, "they let their anger and 
fury take from them the sense of humanity, 
and demonstrated that no beast is more 
savage than man, when possessed with power 
commensurate to his rage." All we have to 
strive for is, not to endow men with more 
power than they ought to possess, to cultivate 
their sense of humanity, and monsters, like 
those produced by Rome, would be impossible. 



314 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Cicero tried to save himself through flight ; 
but, tired of life, he returned to his own villa 
at Formise, on the shores of the Mediter- 
ranean, and begged his attendants to let hirn 
die in his country which he had so often 
saved. His devoted slaves got intelligence, 
that his pursuers were close on his track. 
" With affectionate zeal they forced him 
into a litter, and bore him along a bypath 
through the thick, but then leafless, woods 
towards the shore." They were overcome 
Herennius by the band of murderers, headed by a cen- 
mffitary ^urion, named Herennius, and the military 
Tribune Tribune, Popilius Laenas, whom Cicero had 
L Xas, 1S his successfully defended in a criminal trial on 
murderers, the charge of parricide. When he heard their 
footsteps approaching, he ordered his atten- 
dants to set the litter down, drew back the 
curtain, stretched forward his head, and ex- 
claimed, " Here, Veteran ! if you think it 
right — strike ! " Herennius stepped forward 
and severed Cicero's head from his body, 
and it rolled into the dust. It need astonish 
no reader that citizens, capable of such deeds, 
should have fallen a prey to the Roman 
Emperors. 
The The hands of Cicero were cut off and 

Antony and brought, with the head, to Antony by the 
his wife murderers. He was seated on a tribunal ad- 
ministering justice in the Forum, when they 
made their way through the crowd with the 
ghastly relics. His eyes sparkled with joy, 
and he not only paid the promised reward, 
but added to it an enormous sum. What 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 315 

more precious gift could he present to his 
wife, Fulvia, than the head of their deadliest 
enemy ? She took it, and placing it on her 
lap, addressed it, as though it were alive, in 
words of bitter insult. She dragged out the 
tongue, whose sarcasms she had so often felt, 
and with feminine rage pierced it with her 
bodkin. It was then taken and nailed to the Cicero's 
Eostrum (the platform on the Forum from {^ a and 
which orators addressed the people), to- nailed 
gether with his hands, to moulder there in R 03tr um. 
mockery of the triumphs of his eloquence, 
of which that spot had so often been the 
scene. A sadder sight was never gazed upon 
in Rome ! (See " Life of Marcus Tullius 
Cicero," by William Forsyth, M.A., Q C. 
London: John Murray, 1864, vol. ii., page 
276.) 

The change of the Roman Republic into The 
an Empire was easily accomplished. The Empire. 
bodiless State-abstraction assumed flesh and 
blood, and became incarnate in a single 
individual, who was to put an end to all 
dissensions, and to unite the conflicting 
social elements of the State under his sway. 
The world's history has no phenomenon ana- 
logous to that of Imperial Rome. The extent Extent of 
of the Empire was immense ; the dominion ^ p f r ° e mai1 
of one man reached south and north from the 
Atlas Mountain Chain in Africa to the Gram- 
pian Hills in Scotland ; and west and east, 
from the Atlantic Ocean to the Caspian Sea. 
Portugal, Spain, France, part of England 
(four-tifths), the whole of Italy, all the Islands 



316 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

in the Mediterranean Sea, the south of Ger- 
many up to the Danube, Illyria, Hungary, 
Transylvania, all the provinces forming 
European Turkey, all the then known parts 
of Africa, including Egypt, Tunis, Tripoli, 
Algiers, and Morocco ; all the countries in 
the North- West of Asia, up to the frontiers of 
Persia and India (Arabia Petrsea excepted), 
trembled under the Roman Emperor's u Sic 
volo, sic jubeo /" (So I will it, and so I com- 
mand it !) 
Rome To consolidate the heterogeneous national 

defend t0 elements into one mighty State-body was the 
herself aim of the mythic Royal period ; to expand 
attacking. the dominion by conquests was the task of 
the Republic ; and the sole aim of the Empire 
was to keep together what had been acquired. 
The tables were turned. No more wars of 
aggression were fought, but wars of defence. 
At first Rome was fierce and victorious; but 
at last feeble and unsuccessful. We cannot 
too warmly recommend to students of this 
period the master- work of the greatest English 
Edward historian, Edward Gibbon, published under 
Roman S the title, " The History of the Decline and 
History. Y'&\\ f the Roman Empire." Truthfulness, 
depth of research, unsurpassed beauty of 
style, and a genial power to reveal the hid- 
den motives and causes of all the harrowing 
phenomena of this period, distinguish Gib- 
Opposedby bon's History. Obscurants, bigots, falsifiers 
of facts, and sectarians were all in arms 
against this giant of Historiography. This 
fact in itself is the very best recommenda- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 317 

tion of his work. He continually excites 
his readers to think for themselves ; he 
attaches to dry facts reflections, which are as 
striking as they are correct; showing the 
high stand-point from which he could grasp 
and represent the complicated history of the 
birth, life, and death of Imperial Rome. 
Some priests even went so far, as to publish 
a "Student's Gibbon"; a garbled edition of 
his work, leaving out all obnoxious matter ; 
that is, all that was true and incontrovert- 
ible ; all that deprived the later theological 
Historians of their supernatural and miracu- 
lous ground. A thorough study of Gibbon, 
not only makes us acquainted with Roman 
History, but serves as the very best model 
for historical composition. Though writers 
may not possess the power of his genius, nor 
his unwearying charm, they can all emulate 
him in boldly telling the truth, based on the 
strict laws of reason. We shall have an 
opportunity of treating more fully of this 
author in our chapter on modern English 
Hist oriogr aph er s . 

Before we proceed to the Historians of Rome, 
we will sketch, in broad outlines, the sad fate 
of her Imperial rulers. The Emperor was now 
Consul, Dictator, Senate, Tribune, Pontifex 
Maximus, iEdile, and Praetor, all in one. 

Octavius Augustus heads the long list. Octavius 
His reign is designated as the golden age of Au s ustus - 
Roman literature. The dynamic force work- 
ing in the nation, which formerly spent itself 
in politics and warfare, was now concentrated 



318 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

on polished literature and Court intrigues, 
and the Romans fairly excelled in both. He 
ruled forty-four years, and died a natural 
death. 

Tiberius Tiberius, after having disgraced the im- 
perial purple for twenty-three years, by the 
most abominable deeds of cruelty, licentious- 
ness, and hypocrisy, was murdered. 

Caius Caius Caesar Caligula, the son of Germa- 

Cdfuia nicus, was a madman; ruled as such, and 
showed the world what a nation is capable 
of submitting to, when the moral force is en- 
tirely neglected by rulers and people. He 
was murdered. 

Claudius Claudius, his uncle, was a contemptible 
coward, and was murdered by his own wife, 
Agrippina. 

Nero. Nero poisoned Brittanicus, murdered his 

wife, Octavia, for the sake of the charming 
Poppsea Sabina, whom he murdered after- 
wards ; murdered his own mother Agrippina, 
who committed a double murder to secure him 
the throne ; murdered Piso, his uncle ; caused 
the death of Seneca, his teacher ; burnt down 
Rome for pleasure ; and falsely accused some 
Christians, whose bodies he had thrown be- 
fore wild animals, or nailed to the cross, or 
burnt at the stake. He was, at last, murdered 
himself. 

Suipitiua Sulpitius GrALBA, proclaimed emperor by 
the army in Spain, was murdered after a few 

Salvias months' reign. 

0tho - Salvius Otho committed suicide. 

Yiteiiius. Aulus Vitellius ate himself to death. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 319 

Flavius Vespasianus and Titus — the first Flavius 
severe and cruel, but not entirely without Ves P as j, a - 

/,-,. p • ., J , , nus and. 

some ieelmgs 01 justice ; the second, who Titus. 
u looked upon a day as lost, if he had done 
no good action in it," — both died a natural 
death. 

Titus Flavius Domitian, who was profli- Titus . 
gate, cruel, and licentious, had himself pro- DomiSan. 
claimed " Lord and God on Earth." He had 
a woman condemned to death, because she 
was accused of having undressed in the pre- 
sence of his bust ; and a citizen, because he 
had a map of the Roman Empire painted 
on the walls of his house. He was, at last, 
murdered. 

Of eleven emperors, who ruled for about 
120 years, only three died a natural death. 

For the next hundred years, Rome was The Five 
governed by five so-called philosophical Em- P hil °; 
perors : — Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Emperors. 
Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. Had these five 
men, full of honesty, kindness, and justice, 
succeeded in re-adjusting the lost balance 
between morals and intellect, they might 
have saved Rome; but new and strange 
forces were already at work, in the North and 
South, and brought about an entirely new 
state of .things. The amiable Marcus Aurelius 
was followed by Commodus, his son, who commodus 
fought no less than 735 times with common 
trained gladiators and wild animals, in the 
arena, before his people. He was murdered. 

Pertinax, his successor, was murdered. Fertinax. 

The Prsetorians next sold the imperial 



320 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Didius 
Julianus. 

Septimus 
Severus. 



Caracalla 
and 

Septimus 
Geta. 



Macrimis. 



Elagabalus 



Alexander 
Severus. 



throne by auction, for £195, to Didius 
Julianus, but had scarcely received the 
money, when they murdered him. 

Septimus Severus was himself one of the 
most terrible murderers, under the pretext 
of revenging the murder of Pertinax. He 
attempted to reform the administration of 
justice, and in doing so allowed his violent 
passion to gain the upper hand, and com- 
mitted countless atrocities. When old, he 
proceeded to England to punish the Caledo- 
nians (Scotch) for their raids. He died a 
natural death at Eboracum (York). 

His two sons, Caracalla and Septimus 
Geta, succeeded him. The name of the eldest 
was really Bassianus, but he was nicknamed 
Tarantus and Caracalla ; the former appella- 
tion being borrowed from a vulgar and blood- 
thirsty gladiator, and the latter from a long 
Gallic gown, which he ordered the people of 
Kome to wear. He was the most passionate 
and cruel of the emperors of Rome. He had 
his brother, the kind and mild Septimus Geta, 
treacherously murdered in the presence of their 
mother ; and was, at last, murdered himself. His 
successor, Macrinus, was also murdered. 

Elagabalus, or Heliogabalus, a priest of 
the Syrian Sun-god, was placed on the throne 
on account of his good looks, but soon mur- 
dered at the instigation of his own mother, 
who was murdered at the same time. 

His cousin, Alexander Severus, succeeded 
him, and, in spite of some redeeming quali- 
ties, due to the excellent education he had 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 321 

received from his mother, who accompanied 
him everywhere ? was murdered, with her, 
by the Gallican troops, under a Thrakian, 
Maximums, who had raised himself from the Maxi- 
position of a common wiestler and soldier to nunus - 
that of a chief commander. Maximinus was 
proclaimed Emperor, but soon murdered, with 
his son, near the town of Aquileja. The con- 
fusion and dissolution of the Empire became, 
day by day, more manifest. The Praetorians 
assumed more power, elected different Em- 
perors simultaneously in the Provinces, and 
these waged war against one another, and 
were murdered so soon as they made the 
slightest attempt to maintain some kind of 
discipline among their soldiers. Philippus, Phiiippus. 
called the Arabian, who celebrated the mil- 
lennium of the existence of the City of Rome 
(assuming that it was built 753 B.C.) with 
great pomp, fought against Decius, his im- Deems. 
perial colleague, and was beaten and killed ; 
but the same fate awaited Decius, who led his 
army against the Goths, and was defeated 
and slain. Gallus was next elected Emperor. Gaiius. 
He purchased peace from the Goths, under 
the promise of paying them a yearly tri- 
bute, and was murdered by his own soldiers. 
^Emilian defeated the Goths, and was pro- 
claimed Emperor by his victorious troops, 
but was soon after murdered by them. Va- Vaiema. 
lerian was next placed on the throne. He 
made his son, Gallienus, co-regent, and lost Gaiiienu*. 
his freedom and life in Persian captivity, 
under Sapor I., who treated him with the 



322 THE SCIENCE OP HISTORY. 

greatest cruelty. His son, when informed 
of the misfortunes of his father, openly ex- 
pressed his delight, and for this unnatural 
indifference was praised by the contemptible 
flatterers of his Court. " He was a master 
of several curious but useless sciences, a ready 
orator and elegant poet, a skilful gardener 
and excellent cook, and a most contemptible 
prince." He was murdered by his own soldiers. 
The During the reign of Gallienus no less than 

nineteen n i ne teen co-emperors existed, who gave rise 
emperors, to endless confusion and bloodshed, and dis- 
appeared as quickly as they were elected. 
With the exception of two, all were of obscure 
and low birth, and not one of them died a 
natural death, for they were all murdered. 
Claudius Claudius II. was next raised to the throne, and 
n * died of the plague; whilst his successor, Aure- 

Aureiian. Li an, was mercilessly murdered by his soldiers. 
These last two Emperors attempted to bring 
order and discipline into the army, but in 
vain. The so-called Northern Barbarians 
violently knocked at the gates of Rome, de- 
manding admission to the stage of Universal 
History, and a new Religion extended more 
and more that dissolving influence under 
which the ancient world withered away, and 
humanity in the north-west of Europe received 
entirely different moral, social, and poli- 
tical institutions. Aurelian tried to oppose 
the new spirit of the times, but was put to 
death by his soldiers, after a reign not alto- 
gether void of some glorious victories and 
Zenobia. triumphs, especially against Zenobia, the wife 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 323 

of Odenathus, who ruled in Syria, and founded 
the Palmyrian Empire. After the death of 
her husband, she was placed at the head of 
the government ; determined to extend her 
mighty empire, she called herself Queen of 
the East. Her army was defeated, she 
herself made prisoner, and taken to Rome, 
where, loaded with golden chains, and be- 
decked with jewels, she had to figure in the 
triumphal entry of Aurelian. A descendant 
of the great Historian, Tacitus, was raised to 
the imperial dignity as Tacitus Augustus, at Tacitus 
the age of seventy -five. He ruled for nine Au s u8tuB - 
months with great success, and died at Ty- 
ana, in Cappadocia, heart-broken at the inso- 
lence and licentiousness of his soldiers, or, as 
some historians (Zosimus and Zonaras) assert, 
was murdered by them. He was succeeded 
by Probus, who delivered Gaul from the Protme. 
Germans ; passed the Rhine, and advanced 
as far as the Elbe and the Neckar. He en- 
deavoured to curb the indomitable spirit of 
the soldiery ; but, forgetful of the fierce dis- 
position of his wild troops, he was cruelly 
murdered by them. Carus followed, and is Cams, 
said by some writers to have been killed by 
lightning ; but others, with more probability, 
contend that he was murdered by his soldiers. 
His two sons, Numerian and Carinus, were Numerian 
proclaimed Emperors; Carinus, the elder, was ^J. 
66 soft yet cruel, vain and callous " ; profli- 
gate and mean, he loved pleasures, but had 
no taste. In the course of a few months, he 
married and divorced nine wives. But all 

y 2 



324 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

this was forgiven him ; for he exhibited the 
Roman games of the theatre, the circus, and 
the amphitheatre with unparalleled splen- 
dour. He surpassed the triumphal pomp of 
Probus, or Aurelian, and the secular games 
of the Emperor Philippus. But whilst he was 
living in the midst of glittering pageantry, 
his brother was murdered on the Shores of 

Diocletian, the Bosphorus, and Diocletian proclaimed 
Emperor. Carinus hastily collected an army, 
and determined not to allow his rival to 
assume the purple. The Eastern and West- 
ern troops met in the Plains of Margus, a small 
city of Msesia, in the neighbourhood of the 
Danube, and the unexhausted legions of Ca- 
rinas had the advantage over the sorely tried 
soldiers of Diocletian. In the midst of his 
triumph, however, Carinus was murdered by 
a Tribune, whose wife he had seduced. Dio- 
cletian, who was the son of slave parents, 
ruled with sanguinary severity, and virtually 
transformed the Empire into a " Tetrarchy," 
choosing three other co-emperors, who all 
possessed supreme power, and whose per- 
sonal edicts were equally binding on all 
their subjects collectively. Such a division 
of power inevitably produced confusion, in- 
trigues, and war. The co-emperors of Dio- 

Maximian. cletian were, Maximian, a good soldier, but 
an utterly uneducated, though ambitious, 
man, who received, in common with Dio- 

Gaierius, cletian, the title of Augustus ; GUlerius, ori- 
ginally a herdsman, a vulgar, yet cunning 
and intriguing task-master, not entirely de- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 325 

stitute of virtue and ability; and Constan- Constan- 
tius, surnamed Chlorus, of a mild disposition, tlus ' 
though firm and full of courage. These two 
latter received the title of " Caesar," which 
made them rather subordinate to the two 
61 Augusti." Diocletian, like Nero and De- Panada - 
cius before him, instituted the most sangui- christians. 
nary persecutions of the daily more and 
more increasing Christians. These persecu- 
tions had more of a social and political, than 
of a religious character. The Christians were 
looked upon, rightly or wrongly, as secret 
conspirators against the authority of the 
State. Diocletian ascribed the tumults and 
rebellions, that often disturbed the peace of 
the Empire, to Christians and their bishops, 
who placed spiritual matters above the in- 
terests of the State, and the authority of 
the priests above that of the military chief. 
Diocletian was savagely bloodthirsty, and 
made no distinction between Christians or 
Pagans, in having them murdered, and their 
towns burnt down; he did this both in 
Egypt and Syria. Tired of governing, he 
withdrew from the administration of the 
country, and Maximian did the same. With- 
out consulting the two " Augusti," two co- 
emperors were proclaimed by Galerius, 
Severus and Maximin, no notice being taken Severus 
of Maxentius, son of Maximian, or Constan- J£f ximin 
tine, afterwards "the Great," son of Con- 
stantius; and this led to new disturbances. 
Diocletian and Maximian reassumed the Im- 
perial dignity, defeated Severus, condemned 



326 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Licinius. him to death, and appointed Licinius in- 
stead of the deceased Constantius. Rome 
thus became a " Hexarchy," an Empire ruled 
by six kings, namely, Maximian, Galerius, 
Maximin, Maxentius, Constantine, and Lici- 
nius, who were all in arms against one 

Conatan- another ; till, at last, Constantine became sole 
master of the Empire, through the defeat of 
Maxentius, near Rome. It is recorded that 
Constantine saw a burning cross, hovering 
above the sun, with the inscription, " In hoc 
signo vinces " (In this sign thou shalt conquer). 
The same night, according to Bishop Euse- 
bius, Christ appeared to Constantine, and 
ordered him to have a banner made, bearing 
the sign he had seen during the day, assur- 
ing him, at the same time, that under this 
banner (afterwards called the Labarum) he 
would conquer. 80 far the legend. The 
fact, however, was that Constantine disposed 
his troops with consummate skill, while his 
adversary, Maxentius, occupied a very spa- 
cious plain, with the Tiber in the rear of 
his army, which rendered retreat impossible. 
The cavalry of Maxentius was composed of 
unwieldy cuirassiers, or light Moors and Nu- 
midians ; whilst Constantine had at his dis- 
posal the vigour of splendid Gallic horse, 
" which possessed more activity than the 
one, and more firmness than the other." The 

Max?ntius. defeat of the army of Maxentius cannot be 
ascribed to a miracle, dream, or vision, but 
simply to the better tactics of Constantine, 
and the greater valour of his troops. Maxen- 



TIIE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 327 

tms was driven into the Tiber ; his head was 
cut off, and publicly exposed ; and Constan- 
tine became master of the Roman Empire, 
the other five Emperors having either died 
or been vanquished. With Const antine, who Constan- 
introduced Christianity as the State or Offi- fej^J 
cial Religion of the Roman Empire, an en- introduce* 
tirely new phase of History begins in the Sy™^" 
East and West of Europe. state- 

In treating of the third Imperial period, re gl0n * 
the chief object of Historians must be, to trace 
the causes which produced the Decline and 
Fall of Rome ; and these may be brought 
under the following seven headings : — 

1. Imperial Rome was a military Despotism, seven 

2. The Emperors employed mercenary c * u ^ a 

troops. Decline 

3. The Provinces, through their magni- ^ d t ^ al1 
tude, became self-conscious, independent Roman 
states, and Rome ceased to be the centre of Em P lre ' 
the Empire. 

4. The foundation and rapid spread of 
Christianity. 

5. The migration of the Northern Teutonic 
tribes towards the South. 

6. The division of the Empire into a 
Western and an Eastern half. 

7. The influence of women, for good and 
evil, acquired through Christianity. 

In the works of Greek, Roman, and 
Jewish authors, to which we refer in these 
pages, writers and students of History 
will find ample material for scientifically 
working out the above causes, and will 



less 
numerous 



328 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

see the eternal law of action and re- 
action in the completely disturbed state of 
the balance between the two forces working 
in Humanity. The foundation and spread 
of Christianity will be thoroughly intelligible 
on this basis ; it may lose in legendary exag- 
geration, but will gain strength and power, 
new vigour, and life, if treated as a natu- 
ral, necessary historical event, free from all 
Hebrew, Egyptian, Indian, and Buddhistic 
mysticism. 
Historians Historians, in the strict sense of the word, 
became less numerous, with the spread of 
Christianity ; we may even go so far as to 
say, that the more the so-called spiritual king- 
dom of the new church extended, the more 
the intellectual power of humanity diminished. 
Mankind was to be one-sidedly developed. 
Only one of the forces was to be cultivated : in 
passive submission to an authority that assumed 
to govern heaven and earth. Intellect and 
reason were placed in deadly antagonism to 
Morals, The two forces working in Humanity 
were arrayed as hostile elements, and a san- 
guinary struggle was the consequence of this 
unnatural attempt. The conflict lasted for 
more than one thousand years. But intellect, 
the dynamic force, subsequently became 
powerfully active, and prepared the Western 
man for a truly moral and scientific life, in 
establishing again a more correct balance 
between Morals and Intellect, or Religion and 
Science. 

Even, during this third period of Roman 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 329 

History, Greek writers greatly excelled in Some 
Historiography. Many valuable and inter- w ".i t e e rs, 
esting works have been altogether lost or de- whose 
stroyed. Amongst these we may mention : the are i v ost . 
History of the Jewish Rebellion, by Aristo, 
of Pella ; the History of Egypt, by Ptolemy, 
of Mendes, and the History of the same 
country by the Philosopher Thrasyllus ; the 
writings of the Egyptian authoress Pamphila; 
the two books of the Emperor Claudius, under 
the titles "Turenika" and u Karkedoniaka"; 
the writings of Jason, of Argos ; the 
translation of the works of Sanchoniathon, 
by Philo, of Byblos (lost, with the exception 
of a few fragments) ; and the ten books of 
Alexandrian History by the Syrian, Calini- 
cus, under the Emperor Antoninus Pius. The 
History of Alexander the Great and his 
mother Olympias ; an autobiography of the 
Emperor Severus ; a work on Indian Philo- 
sophers, by Bardesanes, of Babylon ; a His- 
tory of the Romans, during a thousand years, 
and one of the Parthenians, by Asinius Qua- 
dratus ; a History of Italy, by Dorotheus, of 
Tyre ; and, finally, the works of Praxagoras, 
of Athens, on the Athenian Kings, on Con- 
stantine the Great, and Alexander the Great. 
We still possess the works of some important 
writers, of whom we must mention : — 

(a.) Nikolaus, of Damaskus, who was a Nikoiaus. 
Poet and Historian, an intimate friend of 
the Emperor Augustus, and of the Tetrarch 
Herodes (governor of a fourth part of a 
Roman province). Only scanty fragments 



330 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

of his writings have come down to us. This 
is the more to be regretted, as he wrote a 
" Catholic History " in 144 books, which 
must have contained much valuable infor- 
mation. 

Memnon, (b.) Memnon, of Heraklea on the Pontus, 
wrote sixteen books of the History of his 
native town, but only Books ix. — xvi. have 
been preserved, in a very fragmentary state, 
by Photius. 

piutarck (<?.) Plutarch, born at Cheronea, in 
Boeotia, 49 or 50 a.d., was a disciple 
of the eclectic Philosopher Ammonius, of 
Delphi. During the later years of the 
Emperor Vespasian he was Professor of 
Philosophy at Rome. Trajan made him 
Praefect of Illyria, and Hadrian appointed 
him Governor of Greece. He died at the 
age of eighty, about 130 or 135 a.d. 
He was one of the most learned and most 
polished writers of his age, but was at the 
same time superstitious and prejudiced — 
partly an Egyptian and partly a Roman 
mystic. He wrote philosophical, political, 
educational, mythological, and scientific 

His style, works. In his purely historical writings 
his style is simple, impressive, and prag- 
matic. He draws his characters with great 
lucidity, and may be said to have been the 
first Historian who pointed out spirited ana- 
logies, without, however, stating their causes. 
Plutarch endeavoured to establish an entirely 
new method of studying men and things, on 
the basis of Greek and Roman learning. He 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 331 

was consciously or unconsciously affected by 
the gloomy teachings of the Gnostics, and 
advocated a total and unconditional submis- nis 
sion of intellect to authority. He taught UJJ v ^£ y 
the sinfulness of life, and destroyed the mission. 
activity, self-reliance, and independence of 
mind in the higher classes, at a period when 
these qualities were most required in them. 
Like all highly educated men, he hated ex- 
tremes, and opposed Epikureans and Stoics 
with equal fervour. He wished to steer clear 
of all systems, and to use just so much of 
each as would serve to establish a neutral 
state of thinking, which, at the period in 
which he lived, was the most dangerous 
principle he could have advocated. Plutarch His 
was, unhappily, no citizen of this world. He *jf^ m 
constructed for himself a world of his own. 
He was, in his modesty of opinion, an Acade- 
mician (meaning one belonging to the philo- 
sophical school of that name) ; studied the 
phenomena of nature with the Peripatetics ; 
believed in a particular Providence with the 
Stoics ; borrowed from Epikurus his rational 
idea of enjoyment ; and from Pythagoras the 
doctrine of the Metempsychosis (the migra- His 
tion of the soul after death). He used one *? the Ecy 
of the most immoral agencies in the realms Metem- 
of ethics — fear. He wished to improve men, P s y chosia * 
to subdue their pride, and excite their sym- 
pathy, by showing them that their future 
existence might be that of a loathsome 
reptile. He sought to frighten them into 
being good and virtuous. Plutarch believed 



332 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

in dreams ; but, read with care, his works 
serve us as the very best means to understand 
the moral, philosophical, and scientific state 
of the society for which he wrote, and which he 
tried to influence for the better, by holding 
up the great characters of Greek and Roman 
Plutarch's antiquity as models for imitation in his 
"Lives." memorable " Lives." This work should be 
found in every library, however small. (One 
of the best translations into English is that 
by John and William Langhorn, in six 
volumes. London: 1823.) The " Biogra- 
phies " abound in anecdotes and instructive 
remarks, and for more than 1,700 years 
Plutarch's " Lives" stimulated students and 
writers to make themselves acquainted with 
the two classic nations, that produced such 
heroes, statesmen, patriots, and lawgivers. 
These characters are presented in pairs, a 
Greek being followed by a Roman, and the 
Characters two generally compared afterwards, as with 
compare . fph&seus anc [ Romulus, Solon and Publicola, 
Alkibiades and Caius Marcius Coriolanus, 
Kimon and Lucullus, Demosthenes and 
Cicero, &c. Plutarch's work must, how- 
ever, be considered as a half-historical and 
half- imaginary compilation of sketches, 
through which an interest in the study of 
History may be promoted. 
riayius f$\ Flavius Arrianus, of Nikomedia, a 

Arrianus . v ' { A ^ -i t~» • tt 

priest oi Ceres and Proserpine. Me was a 
pupil of Epikletus, became Senator and Consul 
at Rome, after having been (134 a.d.) Gover- 
nor of Cappadocia, conquered the Alans, and 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 333 

died under the reign of Marcus Aurelius. He 
published the lectures of his master, delivered 
at Nikopolis, after the expulsion of all the 
philosophers from Rome and Italy ; wrote a 
work on " Tactics," under the title, " Logos 
Taktikos," or "TechnS Taktike;" a History 
in seven books, under the title, " The Expe- 
dition of Alexander," chiefly compiled, as he 
himself confesses, from the works of Ptolemy 
Lagus and Aristobolus ; and a " History of 
India," which was mostly borrowed from the 
lost writings of Nearchus. His seventeen 
books of " Parthika " (on the Parthians) ; 
five books of "Bithinika" (on the Bithynians), 
and other works, are, with the exception of a 
few extracts by Photius, all lost. 

(<?.) Flavius Appianus, of Alexandria, first Fiavius 
a lawyer, afterwards administrator of Egypt, A PP ianus - 
wrote u Romaika,"in twenty-four books; a 
History of Rome, as he says, comprising about 
900 years of the existence of the city, and 
nearly 150 years under the rule of the em- 
perors, to 117 a.d. He begins with the de- 
struction of Troy and iEneas, and goes down 
to the Emperor Trajan. He took Herodotus 
and Polybius as his models ; but uses authori- 
ties which he does not mention, and is ex- 
tremely partial to the Romans. His fluent style, 
however, renders his works very readable. 

(/) Herodianus, of Alexandria (170 — Herodia- 
240 a.d.), was highly respected by the Em- 
peror Marcus Antoninus. He lived at Rome 
for a long period, engaged in State affairs, 
and wrote a Roman History, in eight books. 



nu8. 



334 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

He boasts of his impartiality, and asserts that 
he was an eye-witness of the incidents he 
describes ; he pretends to know many state- 
secrets, which he learned when in office. 
These official " secret-mongers " are the most 
unreliable writers. To give themselves im- 
portance, they coin motives of facts, which, 
as they are acknowledged by themselves to 
have been secret, cannot well be tested. In 
spite of his pretence to special knowledge, 
Herodianus writes like one who was not much 
acquainted with the practical world. He is 
dry, cold, calculating, and shallow; not alto- 
gether without merit, though destitute of all 
nobler feelings and a deeper philosophical 
grasp. In his chronology he is extremely 
careless, and distorts facts. The speeches, 
which he allows his characters to make, are 
perorations, in which the efforts of artificial 
composition, often in contradiction to the 
political disposition of the persons who pro- 
Translated nounce them, can be easily recognised. His 
by Angeio History was translated into excellent Latin 
Poiiziano by Angelus Politianus, whose real name was 
fifteenth Angeio Poiiziano, and who was one of the 
century, revivalists of classic literature in the fifteenth 
century. The translation was undertaken at 
the desire of Pope Innocent VIII. 
Claudius (^r.) Claudius iEuANus, born 155 a.d., at 
manus. p raenes t ;e? near Rome, wrote a History, in 

fourteen books, consisting of compilations 

from different authors, in an exquisite style. 

Di <> . (h.) Dio Cassius, born 155 a.d., at Nikaea, 

in Bithynia, early studied philosophy, rhe- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 335 

• 

toric, and law ; was made a Senator by 
Pertinax, suffered persecution under the Em- 
perors Severus and Caracalla, was appointed 
by Macrinus Governor of Smyrna and Perga- 
mum ; made Consul under Alexander Severus 
in Africa ; and was soon after sent to Dalmatia 
and Pannonia. After his return thence he 
was to have been appointed Consul at Rome ; 
but as he was hated by the Praetorians, on 
account of the strict discipline which he en- 
deavoured to enforce, and as his health had 
broken down, he was permitted to retire to his 
native town. He wrote the History of Rome, 
from the Foundation of the City to 229 a.d., 
in eighty books. He is said to have been 
induced to undertake this work by a dream. 
For ten years he collected materials, in order 
to carry out the dream, and for ten more 
he was engaged in writing his work. Of his 
History we possess Books xxxvu. — liv., and 
Books lvi. — lx. complete; of books xxxvi. 
and lv. only fragments ; books xxxv. — lxxx. 
exist in extracts, made by the Byzantine John 
monk, John Xiphilinos, of Trapezon, in the SS* 
eleventh century. It has been asserted that Tzetzes. 
Books lxxviii., lxxix., and lxxx. were dis- 
covered complete by N. C. Falco in 1724 a.d., 
but this is untrue ; and, what we possess 
under that heading, is a forged compilation 
from the works of Dionysius Halikarnassus, 
Plutarch, Zonoras, and Tzetzes (John), the 
last, a Greek grammarian, who lived in the 
twelfth century a.d., and who wrote imagin- 
ary tales under the title of " Biblos His- 



336 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOKY. 

torike," which have no value at all. The 
chronology of Cassius is, to a great extent, 
reliable. In the description of events, which 
he himself witnessed, he is trustworthy. He 
took Polybius for his model, and openly re- 
cords the fact, whenever he differs from him. 
He was well acquainted with the Roman In- 
stitutions, and may be considered an import- 
ant authority, so far as the History of ancient 
times is concerned. But when he relates 
the incidents of his own period, he is not 
altogether free from slavish fear, crouching 
adulation of his superiors, and a low and 
corrupted mode of thinking. The speeches 
which he inserts, according to the custom of 
ancient Historians, prove him more a clever 
orator than a philosopher, or practical states- 
man. He is, moreover, not altogether inde- 
pendent of superstition and partiality, and 
is often too credulous, incapable of sifting 
probabilities with an independent, critical 
spirit. His style is overloaded, and far too 
rhetorical, but his works must be studied, 
and may be used to great advantage in form- 
ing a general appreciation of the social con- 
dition of Rome. 
Pubiius (£.) Publius Herennius Dextppus, of Athens, 

Heren- ]b orn about 270 a.d. (falsehy taken for the John 

711X15 • i i \ 

Dexippus. Tzetzes mentioned above), wrote, according 

to Photius, a " History of Alexander," and 

" Historical Chronicles," from the beginning 

of the world down to the reign of Claudius, 

the successor of Gallienus. We possess only 

some few fragments of his writings. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 337 

(k. ) Eunapius, of Sardes, wrote a continua- Eunapius 
tion of the "Historical Chronicles " of Dexip- 
pus, in fourteen books, of which only a few 
fragments are extant. 

(7.) Olympiodorus, of Thebes, in Egypt, oiympio- 
must not be confounded with four other phi- dorus - 
losophical writers of the same name ; two of 
whom flourished in the fifth, and two in the 
sixth century a.d. Olympiodorus, of Thebes, 
wrote a " General History" in twenty-two 
books, comprising the years 407 — 425 a.d., 
as a continuation of the History composed by 
Eunapius, and dedicated his work to Theo- 
dosius, the younger. . We possess of it 
nothing but some extracts made by Photius. 

(m.) Priscus, of Panium in Thrakia, lived Prisons, 
at Constantinople as Orator and Philosopher, 
and was afterwards sent as ambassador by 
Theodosius III. to Attila, the great Mongol 
Conqueror. He wrote a History of the Byzan- 
tine Empire, to the times of Attila, in eight 
books. Nothing but fragments of his writings 
are left. 

(n.) Marcellinus wrote one of the best MarceiH- 
Biographies of Thukydides. nus * 

(o.) P^eanius translated the History of Pceamus. 
Eutropius (see below) literally into Greek, 
and must have been a contemporary of the 
Latin author. The translation, with the ex- 
ception of the end, is nearly complete. 

(p.) Zosimus lived about 434 a.d. at Con- zosimus. 
stantinople, under Theodosius, the younger, 
and composed a History of the "Decline of 
the Roman Empire " in six books. His work 

z 



338 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

commences with the History of the Emperor 
Augustus, and is carried down to the year 
410 a.d. The end of Book I. and the begin- 
ning of Book II. are wanting, and Book vi. is 
defective. Polybius was his model. He is one 
of the most important authorities amongst 
the Graeco-Roman Historians. Correct judg- 
ment, a free and independent spirit, and a 
thoroughly impartial appreciation of facts, 
distinguish Zosimus. He blamed Constantine 
the Great for having elevated Christianity to 
a State religion, described the Christians as 
an intolerant sect of fanatics, and pronounced 
their creed a contemptible superstition, op- 
posed to all sense and philosophy. His style 
is free from all rhetorical stiffness, simple^ and 
yet highly polished. 
Latin and The Latin Historians of this period were 
Historians i n a more difficult position than the Greek 
of this writers. Though the Greek language was 
compared, widely spread, and, in certain Provinces, 
spoken and written by the people ; it was 
after all, more the language of the educated 
and higher classes, and its writers enjoyed 
greater freedom than those, who wrote in 
Latin, the common language of the Roman 
people. Yet the Latin Historians had merits 
of their own. Whilst the Greeks sacrificed 
everything to dialectics and style, trying to 
imitate the great writers of their classical 
period, and thus often lost themselves in 
subtle phrases ; the Latin Authors strove, at 
all events, to be truthful chroniclers ; they 
collected, copied, and used everything they 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 339 

could find in official documents, public edicts, 
archives and imperial enactments. They cer- 
tainly neglected the principal duty of His- 
toriographers, to arouse the reasoning faculty, 
to stimulate intellect to a higher culture, 
and to enable mind to acquire a deeper 
understanding of man's glorious destiny. 
With the exception of a few, the Latin His- 
torians never rose above the level of mere 
chroniclers or recorders, who copy and re- 
gister, but do not use their materials in a 
scientific form, or for any higher purpose. 
Panegyrics, or biographies, intermingled 
with more or less interesting historical 
facts, were the principal products of the Im- 
perial Period, which was not favourable to 
genuine research. Individual free-thought 
was impossible, and the causes of histori- 
cal phenomena could not be stated. It was 
fashionable to be learned, but knowledge was 
made subservient to the spirit that ruled 
the imperial court, and the court continually 
varied in its tastes. There was nothing 
stable ; all was restless change ; and the His- 
torian require, above all, freedom, leisure, 
and independence. These causes may serve 
as an excuse for the Latin writers, of whom 
we must mention the following: — 

1. Yelleius Paterculus, born 20 or Veiieius 
19 B.C., died 31 a.d. He received the toga PaterculuB 
virilis when fourteen years of age, was 
made Prsefect of cavalry when twenty, and 
served nine years in the war against the 
Germans, under Tiberius, who greatly dis- 




z 2 ^0^ REF7 ^f> 
NEW YORK, N, Y, 

U-RARN 



340 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

tinguished him ; entrusted him with several 
missions, and invested him with the dignity 
of Prator. It cannot surprise us, therefore, 
to find in him to some extent a panegyrist of 
the Emperor. Favourites ought only to see 
the good sides of their omnipotent masters ; 
it is probable that Paterculus was not wise 
enough strictly to follow this maxim ; and he 
was put to death because Tiberius suspected 
him of treason. He wrote a " Compendium 
of Roman History," of which we possess 
two books. The work was first published in 
The monk 1540 a.d. by the monk Rhenanus, who found 
Rhenanus. ^5^5 ^.d.) a manuscript copy of it in the 
Convent of Marbach, in Alsace. This copy 
is, however, lost; and another, made by 
Amerbach, a pupil of Rhenanus, is the only 
one now in existence. It is preserved in the 
library at Bale. From this copy Orelli com- 
piled his edition. The work is called by the 
editors " Roman History," though the frag- 
ment of the first book shows that it also 
contained a large portion of the History 
His style, of Greece. Peterculus's style is refined and 
spirited ; his periods are often long, and 
burdened with parentheses, but he writes in 
a lively, and often highly poetical strain. 
His plan is not quite clear; apparently he 
wrote for some purpose ; yet if that purpose 
was to praise Tiberius, it is certainly not 
carried out ; for, though he is silent concern- 
ing the Emperor's misdeeds, he nowhere 
endeavours to palliate them. 

To give an example of his style, we insert 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 341 

a passage, describing, in a graphic way, the 
battle at Pharsalia, between Julius Caesar and 
Pompey. All his faults and excellent quali- 
ties may be studied in this short extract : — Descrip- 
" Csesar then led his army into Thessaly, the £ n tl f a J he 
destined scene of his future victory. Pompey, Pharsalia 
though his friends advised a very different C u lus ate 
course (most of them recommending him to First 
transfer the war into Italy ; and, indeed, no lyenthe- 
movement could have been more beneficial 
to his party ; others persuading him to pro- 
tract the contest, a plan which, from the in- 
creasing popularity of his cause, would daily 
be more and more productive of good), yet, 
yielding to his natural impetuosity, marched 
in pursuit of the enemy. The day of the 
Battle at Pharsalia, so fatal to the name of 
Eome, the vast effusion of blood on both sides, 
the two heads of the State meeting in deadly 
conflict, the extinction of one of the lumina- 
ries of the Commonwealth, and the slaughter 
of so many and so eminent men on the side 
of Pompey, the limits of this work do not 
allow me to describe at large. One thing 
must be observed, that as soon as Csesar saw 
Pompey's line give way, he made it his first 
and principal care (if I may use a military Second 
expression to which I have been accustomed) *^ enthe " 
to disband from his breast all considerations 
of party. ! immortal gods ! what requital 
did this merciful man afterwards receive for 
his kindness then shown to Brutus ! Nothing 
would have been more admirable, more noble, 
more illustrious than this victory (for the na- 



342 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Third tion did not miss one citizen, except those 
Parenthe- w j 10 £ e ]j * n battle), had not obstinacy defeated 

the exertions of compassion, as the conqueror 
granted life more freely than the vanquished 
received it." 

The next passage is written with deep 
poetical feeling, and sets forth in a few lines 
some admirable reflections on the instability 
of fortune. 
On the in- u Pompey, having fled .... determined 
Fortune. a ^ ^ as ^ to repair to Egypt, a course to which 
he was prompted by his recollection of the 
services which he had rendered to the father 
of Ptolemy ; who, rather a boy than a man, 
was now seated on the throne of Alexandria. 
But who, when his benefactor is in adversity, 
remembers his benefits ? Who thinks that 
any gratitude is due to the unfortunate ? Or 
when does a change of fortune not produce a 
change in attachments ? " 
Reflection The following passage, commenting on the 
murder of treacherous murder of Pompey, is vivid and 
Pompey. impressive : — u Such -was the end of a most 
upright and excellent man, in the fifty-eighth 
year of his age ; and, on the day before his 
birthday, after three consulships and as many 
triumphs; after subduing the whole world, 
and after reaching a degree of exaltation 
beyond which it is impossible to ascend ; for- 
tune having made such a revolution in his 
condition, that he who lately wanted earth 
to conquer, could scarcely find sufficient for 
., . . a grave." 
Maximus. 2. Valerius Maximus, descended from a 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 343 

noble family, served in Asia under Sextus 
Pompey, the Consul, subsequently retired 
from public life, and devoted himself to lite- 
rary work. It is to be regretted that rich 
noblemen should take up an occupation, for 
which they are, by their very birth, altogether 
unfitted. Standing high above common mor- 
tals, these noble, rich, and aristocratic His- 
torians really only degrade History; they 
either use the very highest vocation of an 
author for party purposes, or vent their spite 
against those with whom they do not agree, 
or natter those who helped them on in their 
worldly career. The spectacle which these 
aristocratic Historians present in the arena of 
literature, is very much like that of the Em- 
peror Commodus, when he fought; as a gla- 
diator in the Circus. Headers and the public 
are only invited to admire ; and, as the noble 
writer is sure of praise from the mob, he cer- 
tainly takes no trouble to write well ; or, to 
make researches, generally leaving this ar- 
duous task to a secretary or clerk. More- 
over, these writers, conscious of their social 
status, think that every incident that they 
witnessed must be of vital importance to the 
people ; and we have to thank them for the 
vast numbers of vapid memoirs that have 
flooded historical literature, especially in 
modern times. Valerius Maximus is their 
model writer. He selects, without order or 
sense, without system or purpose, with plea- 
sant carelessness, little scraps and anecdotes 
from the lives of celebrated men ; shows in- 



344 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

ordinate partiality, loves impossibilities, and 

writes an affected, stilted, heavy, and in- 

His flated style. The principal work of Valerius 

principal jf ax i mus which bore the title, " Dictorum 

work in. ' 

nine Factorumqae MemorobiMum Libri IX P (Nine 

books. Books of Memorable Sayings and Facts), was 
thought to have consisted of mere extracts 
from a larger work written by him, com- 
piled, according to some, by a certain Julius 
Paris ; or by Titus Probus, or Januarius Ne- 
potianus, according to others. All these as- 
sumptions are, however, improbable, as the 
work, in its present form, exhibits all the 
shortcomings of the style of the original 
writer, to imitate which artificially would 
have been too difficult a task. The extracts 
Julius by Julius Paris, which were published under 
Paris - the title, " De Nominilus" (Of Families), 
were made from the Annals, written by Va- 
lerius, of Antium, and not from those by 
Valerius Maximus. From such instances as 
these readers can form their own opinions with 
regard to the difficulties that surround a His- 
torian ; and will learn, how necessary it is to 
exercise critical discernment, and to give the 
closest attention to all available materials, 
without any subjective bias. 
Cams 3. Caius Cornelius Tacitus was born 

Tadtus 118 ^7 A - D -? under the reign of the Emperor Nero. 
He is said to have been a descendant of a 
collateral branch of the celebrated family of 
the "Cornelii;" but this may be a mere 
myth; for the name "Cornelius" was not 
uncommon, and was assumed by no less than 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 345 

10,000 slaves, freed by Sulla. He may, or 
may not, have been the son of a Cornelius 
Tacitus, who was Governor of Belgium ; but 
whoever his parents were, he has thrown a 
lustre on the name of Tacitus, which will 
shine so long as human beings exist, able to 
appreciate the great qualities of the first 
Roman Historian, "who applied the science 
of philosophy to the study of facts." Of his 
person and his life much more is known, than 
of his origin and family. Tacitus very early The youth 
devoted himself to the study of poetry, law, Tacitus. ° f 
and rhetoric ; he served in the army, under 
Vespasianus ; was appointed Quaestor, and 
entrusted with still higher offices, under the 
Emperors Titus and Domitian. In the year 

88 a.d. he was Praetor and " Quindecimvir " 
(one of the fifteen officials to whom the Sibyl- 
line Books were confided; see page 271) ; in 

89 a.d. he left Rome with his wife, the 
daughter of Julius Agricola ; travelled with 
her and his father-in-law in Brittany and 
Germany ; was nominated Consul in 97 a.d., 
by the Emperor Nerva, in the place of the 
deceased Virginius Rufus ; and died about 
117 a.d. We possess of him the following 
works : — 

(a.) "Annates" (Annals), containing the His 
most important historical facts from the death ^? rks : 
of the Emperor Augustus to the tragic end of Annals. 
Nero ; a period of fifty-four years. Unhap- 
pily, Books vi. — x., containing the History 
of the years 37 — 47 a.d., are lost. The end 
of the work is also wanting, for it concludes 



346 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

before Xero's death is mentioned. The first 
five books were discovered 300 years ago, by 
Angelo Arcoruboldo, treasurer of Pope Leo X., 
in the monastery at Korvey, and published, 
1515 a.d., by Philip Beroalclus at Rome. 
^ e . . (b.) "HistoriarumLibri L" (Fifty Historical 
Books. Books), a record of contemporary History, of 
which we possess only the first four books, 
and part of the fifth. The work begins with 
the year 69 a.d., when Galba was still Em- 
peror, and finishes with the year 71 a.d., 
when Yespasianus ascended the throne. 
His (c.) u De Situ, Jloribus et Populis Germanice" 

Germany. (Of the Country, Customs, and People of 
Germany), which is undoubtedly one of his 
most important and interesting works. 
His (d.) " De Vita et Moribus Jul. Agricolce" 

Aericoia. (The Life and Manners of Julius Agricola). 
The lost (#.) Other works, under the title "Augusti 
Tatitas! Vita et Institute (Life and Institutions of 
Augustus), and " Vitce Nervce et Trajani" (The 
Lives of Xerva and Trajan), are entirely lost. 
a work (f.) A Dialogue published under his name, 

ascribed to an(1 under the title u De Oraioribus, sire de 
Tacitus. Causis Corruptee Eloquentice^ (On Orators and 
the Causes of the Corruption of Eloquence), 
is falsely attributed to him. As the style is 
entirely different from his usual mode of 
writing, it has been asserted in explanation, 
that he had purposely assumed a distinct 
mode of expression for each character, in 
order to give the composition more dramatic 
power. But the introduction (the prcecmibu- 
lum) is the most suspicious part of the work. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 347 

In it Tacitus must certainly be speaking for 
himself, and yet the periods, in this introduc- 
tion more especially, are unwieldy, long, and 
obscure — faults of which Tacitus never can 
be said to have been guilty in his other works. 
Whatever the merits of the book may be, it 
cannot be considered a genuine work written 
by Tacitus. 

The style of Tacitus is sometimes harsh, ab- The stvie 
rupt, and, through its concise brevity, often TacitU8 - 
difficult to understand. He took Seneca, with 
his short moral sentences, for his model, but 
he is far from imitating him slavishly or 

O J 

coldly. The mind of Tacitus was too broad, 
the grasp of his intellect too expanded, not 
to show in every line he wrote the geniality 
of his own nature. One of his greatest merits 
is the very originality of his style. Gibbon 
says, of his u Annals," "to collect, to dis- 
pose, and to adorn a series of fourscore years, 
in an immortal work, every sentence of which is 
pregnant with the deepest observations and the 
most lively images, was an undertaking suf- 
ficient to exercise the srenius of Tacitus him- 
self during the greatest part of his life." 
(The italics are our own.) 

Tillemont, a French writer, says of his 
style : — " His art to express great ideas in a 
few words, his liveliness in describing facts, 
the light with which he pierces the darkness 
of the corrupted heart of man, the force and 
superiority of intellect which appear every- 
where, make us look upon him generally 
as the first of Historians." ("Histoires des 



348 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Empereurs." Vol. ii.) Tacitus belonged to 
those exceptional, and, even in our times, 
very rare individuals, who have a firm faith 
in the lofty dignity of Humanity, and who 
neither insult Creator nor creature by eter- 
nally sighing over the wickedness and sin- 
fulness of man. This faith is the more 
praiseworthy in Tacitus, as he lived at a 
time when the wildest passions were let 
loose, when all that was good was oppressed, 
and all that was evil came into active play. 
The social At this time the social, political, and, above 
tion d of a ^> ^ ne m °ral condition of Humanity was 
Humanity most violently disturbed : murder, rapine, 

in the , i , • , • • • . . 1 

times of treachery, superstition, poisoning, suicide, 
Tacitus, infanticide, documentary falsifications, in- 
subordination, rebellion, religious madness, 
fanatical intolerance and hatred, were every- 
day occurrences. To have preserved a heart 
full of love, and a mind full of admiration for 
everything noble, honest, and true, at such 
a period ; to have striven to gain through 
incorruptible and disinterested virtue the re- 
spect of his contemporaries and of posterity, 
as Tacitus did, recording all that was glorious 
around him, and holding up antiquity, in its 
wisdom and deep moral sense, as a model 
for imitation, must place him at the head of 
the very greatest Historians of past, present, 
and future times. We do no more than our 
duty in recommending him to the earnest 
study of our readers. Tacitus never was a 
favourite with diplomatists and fashionable 
writers, and, least of all, with those who use 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 349 

History for the falsification of facts, and are 
afraid to face the results of the study of true 
History. He was no courtier, who made use 
of circumstances to benefit himself; he never 
craved for the approval of those who were in 
power, or who swayed by their majority the 
deluded minds of the people. He was, there- 
fore, isolated — forced to seek for consolation, 
support, and comfort in his own inner self. 

Tacitus was often bitter in contrasting The prm- 
what Rome had become with what she might S p ^ t 8 ° f 
have been, if State and citizens had not neg- 
lected the culture of man's moral and intel- 
lectual forces. He never lost sight of the 
highest ideal which a good citizen and man 
might attain. Self-sacrificing love and true 
devotion were no empty words to him. As 
a proof of this, we must refer to his account 
of the death of Arria, the heroic wife of 
Csecina Psetus, who was falsely accused of 
having conspired against the Emperor Clau- 
dius, and condemned to death. After she 
had vainly tried every means to save his 
life, Arria plunged a dagger into her bosom, 
held it out to her husband, and died, with 
the words, u Psetus, it does not hurt!" on 
her lips. If we wish to ascertain his views 
on freedom and patriotism, we have only to 
read what he says of the great German hero, 
Arminius (Hermann) . And we can best make 
ourselves acquainted with his moral and 
philosophical principles, by referring to his 
description of the death of Seneca, his beloved 
master. True philosophy is to him the very 



350 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

highest possible consolation that fills a human 

heart with peace, and, above all, with charity; 

true philosophy is the only firm basis of man's 

higher culture and real happiness. 

His With Pliny, the Younger, Tacitus lived on 

friendship most intimate terms. We possess ten letters 

piiny, the addressed by Pliny to Tacitus. One of them 

Younger. w ^[ suffice to throw light on the disposition of 

both these noble and exceptional characters. 

Letter ad- PlINY TO TACITUS, HIS FftlEND. "I have 

piiny, the read your book ; and marked, with the great- 
to°TacTtus est P oss ^ e accuracy, what, I think, ought to 
be altered and cut out. For I do not like 
less to speak the truth than you to hear it. 
Besides, one never finds people more open to 
blame than those who deserve most praise. 
I expect you, in your turn, to send me back 
my book, with your criticism. Oh, what an 
agreeable and delightful exchange! What 
pleasure it gives me to think that, if ever 
posterity should take notice of us, it will 
not omit to state with what union, frankness, 
and friendship we lived together. It will be 
a rare and remarkable fact that two men, 
nearly of the same age, of the same rank, of 
a certain fame in the realms of literature (for 
I must speak modestly of you, as I am speak- 
ing at the same time of myself), should have 
assisted each other so faithfully in their 
works. As for me, from my earliest youth, 
the fame and glory which you have attained 
made me wish to march, and to appear to 
march, in your traces, not near you, but 
much nearer than anyone else. Not because 



THE SCIENCE OP HISTORY. 351 

we had not at Rome many intellects of the 
first order, but the similarity of our inclina- 
tions showed me you as the best with whom to 
be on intimate terms, and as the most worthy. 
It doubles mv delight when I hear it said, 
that whenever literature is referred to, we are 
mentioned together; as soon as they speak 
of you, they think of me. I know that there 
are people who prefer one to the other ; but 
if they only place us together, I do not care 
in what order ; for, whenever they j^lace me 
above you; I think myself on the first (floor), 
and when they put me under you, I consider 
myself on the second. You must have ob- 
served that even in their wills, with the ex- 
ception of some very particular friends, they 
never make a legacy to one of us, when they 
do not make a similar one to the other. The 
conclusion of all this talk is, that we cannot 
love each other too much, who are united by 
our studies, customs, fame, and the last wills 
of people, as by so many ties. Farewell ! " 

In another letter Pliny informs Tacitus 
that he had been hunting, and had taken his 
tablets with him, to write down any ideas ; and 
lie advises Tacitus to do the same, as Minerva 
may be found as well in the mountains as 
Diana. To this letter we possess the answer 
— the only letter by Tacitus that is preserved, 
and, on that account, of great interest. 

Tacitus to Pliny, his Friend. — " I have L f J tter 

i. • i j /■ ii i • i addressed 

a great mmd to lollow your advice ; but by Tacitus 
boars are here so rare that it is impossible to J? Plin ^ 
make Minerva agree with Diana ; though Younger. 



352 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

one ought to serve both, according to you. 
I must be contented to pay homage to Mi- 
nerva, and that even sparingly, as is be- 
coming a retreat, and in summer. About 
the road I have written some trifles (poems) 
good enough to be struck out again; some 
ordinary reflections, such as one is used to 
make in travelling. I have added a few here, 
as I did not do anything else. I let poetry 
rest, which you think can only be written in 
woods and forests. I touched up one or two 
little speeches, though it is very disagree- 
able work, more like the roughness than the 
sweetness of rural life. Farewell ! " 
Tacitus in The relation in which Tacitus stood to his 
his times, times may be best studied in his two small 
works ; the one on Agricola, and his book on 
the Germans. Grloomy and despairing is the 
tone in his greater historical works ; bright 
and hopeful that in his " Life of Agricola," 
forming a glaring contrast to the surround- 
ing reality. He succeeded in this work in 
producing the very best model of a biography. 
What Xenophon attempted in his " Agesi- 
laus" (see page 201), Tacitus carried out. 
He constructed a written monument to the 
memory of one of the greatest statesmen and 
warriors of Home, who led her victorious 
armies into Caledonia (Scotland). He did 
this without writing a running panegyric, 
full of hollow phrases and dialectical niceties, 
in opposition to all good taste, tiring out the 
patience of the reader, like so many of our 
modern biographies. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 353 

In his Book on Germany lie strove to give His Book 
a "faithful, though perhaps too glowing, de- Q^ rman 
scrip tion of the social condition, customs, 
manners, and political organization of the 
Germans; their excellent morals, chastity, 
honesty, fidelity, and independent love of 
freedom. He had at the same time another 
object in view ; he did not merely picture 
the innocent state of a people which had not 
yet come into contact with the dangerous 
allurements of a depraved and overstrained 
civilization, polluted by Oriental debauch- 
ery; but endeavoured to show the striking 
contrast between these fresh and vigorous 
elements in their simplicity and genuineness, 
and evervthing Roman. The enthusiastic 
praise bestowed by Tacitus on the Germans, 
is a proof of the unbounded love which 
he had for Rome. He wanted to see her 
once more great, honest, virtuous, and free. 
In vain did a blind fanatic, like Tertullian, 
who declared " philosophy to have been the 
invention of the devil, and the source of all 
heresy," dare to accuse him of having written 
falsehoods. We now know well, through a 
careful study of History, that an accusation 
from men of the stamp of Tertullian is the 
greatest praise. The critic shows clearly his 
spirit, when he asserts that " Tacitus was 
an enemy of the true religion ; in fact he 
had no religion at all." Tacitus had purer 
moral principles than any of the priests, of 
whatever denomination of his times, and 
was more virtuous than Tertullian, who 

2 A 



354 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

branded ethers with infidelity, and was him- 
self excommunicated, because he ventured to 
write against the laxity of the morals of the 
priests. On the other hand, there were some 
wise princes, even of the Romish Church, 
who considered Tacitus one of the greatest 
writers of ancient times. Amongst them, 
Pope Paul III. so constantly used his copy 
of Tacitus, that it was worn to pieces. The 
immortal Cosmo de' Medici, the generous pro- 
tector of art and science, delighted in read- 
ing Tacitus. Gibbon says of him, that "the 
expressive conciseness of his descriptions has 
deserved to exercise the diligence of innumer- 
able antiquarians, and to excite the genius 
and penetration of the philosophic historians 
of our own times." Christina, Queen of 
Sweden, looked upon the reading of Tacitus 
as her most serious occupation ; she never al- 
lowed a single day to pass without perusing a 
few of his pages. The first printed edition of 
Tacitus, without the introductory five books 
of the "Annals," and the " Life of Agricola," 
appeared 1470, in folio; and edition after 
edition rapidly followed. The first complete 
edition was published at Rome by Beroaldus; 
Rhenanus, Lipsius, Grotius, &c, edited his 
works, adding valuable annotations. No one 
should attempt to write History, in whatever 
language, until he has made himself master of 
the following writers of antiquity : ' ' Herodo- 
tus, Thukydides, and Tacitus." The study 
of the historical works of these three authors 
will stimulate all those faculties which must be 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 355 

developed, in order to render us able not only 
to write, but even to appreciate History. 

4. Quintus Curtius Rufus was probably Quint™ 
born under Vespasian, though this is a dis- ^S^ 8 
puted point, as Rutger and Voss place him 
under Augustus ; Perizon, under Tiberius ; 
J. J. Pontanus, under Trajan; Niebuhr, under 
Septimus Severus ; and others, under Theo- 
dosius the Great. The difficulty that pre- 
sents itself in treating of this Roman writer 
lies in the fact, that no ancient Historian ever Not 
mentioned him, and that his works were not bya D y ned 
published until the fifteenth (Tentury a.d. The writer of 
oldest manuscript of his " History of Alex- antiqmty * 
ander the Great " is dated 900 — 1000 a.d. 
Tacitus, Pliny, and Suetonius speak of a 
celebrated orator of the same name, but say 
nothing of him as a Historian. Yet the style 
of the work attributed to Quintus Curtius is 
so pure and noble, that we are compelled to 
place him amongst the writers of the times 
of Vespasian. There are many mistakes and 
inaccuracies in his geography and chronology. 
The assertion that the rivers Indus and Gan- 
ges were unknown before Ptolemy, was taken 
to prove that this work could not have been 
genuine; for Strabo,who lived under Augustus, 
and Pliny, who lived under Vespasian, speak 
of these rivers ; whilst Ptolemy lived under 
Marcus Aurelius. But Quintus Curtius really 
only says, that " some rivers of India were 
unknown to ancient writers before Ptolemy;" 
he makes no mention of the Indus and Ganges, 
and some Indian rivers might well have been 

2 a 2 



356 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Compared 

■with 

Xenophon. 



Internal 
evidence 
rot to be 
neglected. 



,aius 



St etonius 
Tnnquil- 
lus. 



unknown to many writers of antiquity. This 
passage does not prove that the book must 
have been written in the fourteenth or fif- 
teenth century a.d. His "Life of Alexander 
the Great," like Xenophon s "Kyropsedia," is 
more a historical novel than a scientific work; 
but, as we have already said, the rhetorical 
power of his style, the smoothness of his 
periods, and the correctness of his construc- 
tion place him among the writers of the times 
of Vespasian; for certain forcible internal 
evidence cannot be ignored, and no writer of 
the fourteenth or fifteenth century a.d. could 
have used the Latin language like an orator 
of that period. It is admitted that we 
can safely date works of architecture, modes 
of writing, porcelain, embroideries, sculp- 
tures, and paintings, and we may surely 
venture to do the same with historical works. 
We see again, that trifles may be surrounded 
with difficulties, even there where no one has 
any interest in creating obstacles. How much 
greater must be the perplexities that we shall 
have to encounter, when pious fraud, sancti- 
monious lying, and fanatical ignorance come 
into play, and every incident, every writer, 
every sentence is used for a preconceived 
purpose, to prove some favourite occurrence, 
which perhaps never took place at all ! 

5. Caius Suetonius Teaxquillus, born 
about TO a.d., died about 121 a.d., was the 
son of Suetonius Lenus, Tribune of the 13th 
Legion, and lived at Rome, where he was 
known as a distinguished orator and lawyer. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 357 

Pliny, the Younger, recommended him to the 
Emperor Trajan, who appointed him Tri- 
bune. The Emperor Hadrian made him his 
private secretary (Mayister Epistolarum) ; but 
he lost this position, on account of his fami- 
liarity with the Empress Sabina. He retired 
from public life, and devoted himself exclu- 
sively to study, and the composition of his 
masterly biographies of the first twelve Em- 
perors, and other works. A peculiar kind of 
historical literature was cultivated at Rome, 
under the Emperors, corresponding to our 
modern newspaper writing. 

The literary productions of this period 
may be divided into two classes : — 

(1.) Comic or satirical writings, showing (i.) Comic 
the ridiculous side of all public, political, satirical 
social, and religious events. Such papers writings. 
often reflect far better the innermost senti- 
ments that pervade a certain period, than 
some serious and dull party publications, 
which guide the ignorant masses on the 
leading strings of national prejudices and 
inveterate superstitions. The comic and sa- 
tirical writers of old, like those of our times, 
had a vast field for their labours ; and were 
permitted to say far more, in laughing at the 
shortcomings of their contemporaries, than 
the serious writers. The " Charivari," of 
Paris; the u Kladderadatsch," of Berlin; 
" Punch," and " Judy," of London, are ex- 
cellent and reliable sources for the study of 
the hidden political and moral mainsprings 
of society. 



358 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

(2.) Serious (2.) More serious papers, corresponding to 
Pa°ers^ our s0_cane( i u Society Journals," which are 
nothing- but a revival of those Roman writ- 
ings that flourished under the Emperors, and 
became day by day more scurrilous, insolent, 
personal, and abusive. The sanctity of pri- 
vate life was gone. The public writers, 
who were forbidden to have an opinion on 
State matters, turned their attention to anec- 
dotes and little scandals relating to private 
persons. Moral topics were considered stale 
and tedious. Politics were too dangerous, 
or were exclusively treated in the spirit of 
the irresponsibly ruling supreme authority, 
influence The ever active force of intellect in hu- 
literature. canity demands some occupation ; and if 
higher matters are denied to it, it will fasten 
upon ephemeral trifles. The dresses, looks, 
smiles, coughs, and little insipid remarks of 
the aristocracy will be registered. A quarrel 
between a Patrician Cornelius and a Plebeian 
Julia was to the Romans already of greater 
importance than an Imperial edict, beggar- 
ing hundreds of thousands of industrious 
Barbarians. Court " tittle-tattle " was still 
more fascinating. The more despotic the 
emperors grew, and the more public life was 
stifled, the more everyone and everything 
became dependent on the Court and its myr- 
midons. The more a higher culture, amongst 
the ruling classes, faded away, the more ex- 
clusively did high and low interest them- 
selves in the " Chronique Scandaleuse" of the 
upper classes. Most of these chronicles were 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 359 

written by contemptible Greek parasites, who 
crowded the Imperial courts, and the houses 
or palaces of the rich. 

We should make a great mistake if we "News- 
were to assume that newspapers were a mod- j^their 
ern invention. Newspapers existed already origin, 
amongst the Romans, and were first intro- 
duced by Julius Caesar, who was anxious that 
the meetings of the Senate should be regu- 
larly and more fully recorded and published. 
Augustus abolished these reports, but allowed 
another publication, ordered by Caesar, to 
be continued. Under the title of " Acta 
Diurna" (Daily Doings), or, "Acta Populi" 
(The People's Doings), regular records were 
drawn up of all the important events, con- 
cerning the administration of justice in the 
courts, and the levying of taxes. These Their 
publications contained official edicts, Court Merits 
news, lists of births and deaths, marriages and under 
divorces, adoptions of children, reports of Au s u8tu 
criminal proceedings, and other petty daily 
occurrences; and, in addition, announcements 
of religious processions, festivities, theatrical 
and amphitheatrical performances, gladiato- 
rial exhibitions, wrestlings, races in chariots, 
elephant, lion, and bull fights, &c. These 
newspapers were published in thousands of 
copies in Rome, and sent into the provinces, 
and read there with avidity by the citizens, 
and especially by the army. These journals 
exercised a very detrimental influence on the 
social purity and political freedom of the 
people. The general taste was deteriorated, 



360 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

and earnest studies were sacrificed to sensa- 
tional reports ; creating in the public mind an 
inordinate craving for ever-varying mental 
excitement, and stifling every social and 
political improvement through a prohibition 
of all free discussion. 

Those who felt the want of a serious 
moral reform, and wished freely to discuss 
State-matters, were forced to hold secret 
meetings in the dead of night, and to form 
mysterious societies, which began to under- 
mine the State. Christianity thus originated ; 
and its votaries were looked upon as dan- 
gerous conspirators, propagating mystic and 
unintelligible doctrines, under the name of 
a " New Dispensation." Had Christianity 
been worked out in the broad daylight of 
publicity, it would, from the very beginning, 
have assumed forms entirely different from 
those which it received, step by step, through 
oppression and persecution. 
Suetonius' These were the causes that produced works 
Sough he ^ e those of Maximus Valerius, and to this 
heionged sort of light literature belong the u Lives of 
class of the Twelve Caesars," by Suetonius. We can- 
superficial not, however, deny that, in spite of the levity 
with which his work is written, and the use 
which he made of his position as the private 
secretary of an Emperor, and his copious 
extracts from the daily publications of this 
period, Suetonius had the courage to evince, 
whatever adverse critics may say, a deep 
sense of moral disgust for all that happened 
under the reigns of a Tiberius, Caligula, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 361 

Nero, or Doraitian. He wrote, in fact, " Me- 
moirs " rather, than History. In treating 
of Julius Caesar, "he neither dwells on the 
Civil Wars, which sealed the fall of the Repub- 
lic ; nor on the military expeditions, which 
extended the frontiers of the Empire ; nor does 
he attempt to develop the causes of the great 
political changes which marked the period of 
which he treats." According to La Harpe, LaHarpe 
he is scrupulously exact, strictly methodical. g^ etoniu3 
and omits nothing which concerns the person 
whose life he is writing; he relates every- 
thing, but paints nothing. His works are, 
in some sense, a collection of anecdotes, but 
they must be read and consulted. Of his 
numerous writings, we possess, in addition 
to the " Lives of the Twelve Caesars," the His otter 
" Lives of the Grammarians and Rhetori- works - 
cians " and the " Lives of the Poets," espe- 
cially of Terence, Juvenal, Persius, Horace, 
Lucan, and Pliny. Scholars of all times 
have recommended the study of his works, 
on account of the beauty and purity of his 
style. He is defective in his chronology, 
but pays great attention to the inner connec- 
tion of facts. Those who blame Suetonius The 
for having conscientiouslv recorded the in- antics of 

. y •ill Suetonius. 

decent outrages, committed by the monsters 
clad in the purple of Imperial Rome, belong 
to the most pernicious class of historical falsi- 
fiers. They wish to palliate crimes, if per- 
petrated by those in authority, and pass over 
in silence the dark sides of humanity, assum- 
ing mere Chance, Predestination, or Provi- 



362 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

dence as the agents in History, unwilling to 
trace evil to natural causes. They feel the 
blasphemy which they would utter in assert- 
ing that Providence allowed a Nero or Do- 
rnitian to be the master of the destinies of 
millions of human creatures, who were spe- 
cially sent into the world to be sacrificed to 
the whimsical arbitrariness of single human 
beings, and therefore object to truthful re- 
cords, and are ready to suppress all History 
for the sake of maintaining their prejudices. 
The more, however, we advance in the study 
of History on a scientific basis, the more we 
become convinced that we need not suppress 
Truth. So soon as we reduce the phenomena 
in man's historical development to forces, 
working according to eternal laws, as firm as 
those in the physical world, we acquire means 
of ascertaining causes and effects. We must 
consider man, with his good and evil deeds ; 
and attempt to discover, with unbiassed 
minds, why, at certain periods, all that is 
glorious and divine in Humanity should pre- 
vail ; whilst at others, all that is dark and 
outrageous rules supreme. Only in search- 
ing for and discovering the causes of such 
historical phenomena, are we enabled to un- 
derstand them, to remedy their evil effects, 
and to promote what is good. 
Lucius 6. Lucius Ann^eus Florus is supposed 

Fk>rus U . S t° have been born in Spain, and to have 
been a descendant of the family of Seneca. 
Others concluded from his name, " Florus/' 
that he was a native of Gaul ; others, again, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY, 363 

mistook him for an orator, mentioned by 
Quinctilian, or for a poet, referred to by 
Horace. It is certain that he wrote under 
Trajan or Hadrian. His History, under the 
title " Epitome de Gestis Romanorum" (Epitome His 
of Roman History), in four books, treats of ^f^™^ 
the Republican History of Rome, from the History." 
Foundation of the City to Augustus, the first 
Emperor. The work is written in a heavy 
style, and the whole is one never-ending 
glorification of the Roman people, during 
the Republican period. Of the first hundred 
years of the Republic he says : " They were 
pure and pious, and, as I have called them, 
golden, free from vice and immorality ; as 
there yet remained the sincere and harmless 
integrity of the pastoral life." His work is Fiorus 
full of national conceit, and forms a model Historian 
for all those writers who compile Historv from ^ tho<e 

. n, L , i S j who wish 

ancient sources lor one purpose — the lauda- t0 t now 
tion of a special nation. He is most earnestly how n . ot 

to write 

to be studied by those who wish to know, how History. 
not to write History. Besides being inflated 
with national pride, he is credulous ; repeats 
the prodigies about Romulus and Remus, and 
improves upon the incredible. " The Tiber 
repressed its stream " so as not to drown the 
exposed children, and " the she-wolf left her 
own young and followed the children's cries." 
In order to prove " how augury became a 
sacred institution among the Romans," he re- 
lates that " Tranquinius Priscus " attempted 
to cut a whetstone with his razor in obedience 
to the Augur ; and having succeeded in doing 



364 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

this believed henceforth in the sanctity of au- 
guries. He very often indulges in parentheti- 
Uses cal exclamations. " Wonderful and scarcely 
thetical credible to relate!" — " So difficult to give 
exciam- Italy a head ! " — u shameful ! " — u dis- 
ations - grace ! "— " Terrible to say ! "— " people, 
worthy of the empire of the world, worthy 
of the favour and admiration of all, not only 
of men, but gods ! " &c, a mode of writing 
entirely out of keeping with the mind of 
a Historian, who ought to survey the past 
with a calm spirit, free from all emotional 
excitement. His geographical knowledge is 
defective; and his chronology nothing but a 
repetition of the older statements, without 
Specimens any attempt at testing their accuracy. The 
of kis four books are full of improbabilities. The 
writing river Aufidius is said to have been red with 
blood, and a bridge was made of dead bodies 
over the torrent of Vergellus ! The Kimbri 
are said to have requested Marius to fix upon 
a day for battle, and he appointed the next. 
" They engaged in an open field, which they 
call the Kaudian field. There fell on the 
side of the enemy to the number of sixty 
thousand ; on ours fewer than three hundred. 
The Barbarians were slaughtered during an 
entire day." These are the usual exaggera- 
tions of Historians ; the numbers of the killed 
on the side of the enemy are counted by 
thousands, and those on the opposite side by 
hundreds. Such records are merely despic- 
able attempts to flatter national vanity. 
Florus goes farther, and relates in sober ear- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 365 

nest, that " Marius had also assisted valour incredible 
by artifice. ... In the first place he had ^ ^battiT 
fixed on a foggy day, so that he could charge 
the enemy before they were aware of his 
approach, and as it was windy also, he 
manoeuvred so that the dust was driven 
into the eyes and faces of the enemy ; while, 
in addition, he had arranged his troops to 
face the east, so that, as was afterwards 
learned from the prisoners, the heaven seemed 
to be on fire from the glittering of the Roman 
helmets, and the reflections of the sun's rays 
from them." First, the writer attributes to 
the sagacity of the Roman commander, a fog 
appearing on a day which had been pre- 
viously fixed. This fog was so dense for the 
enemy that they could not see, whilst for the 
Romans no fog existed, as they were able to 
see and to attack. On the other hand, the 
enemy could see, in spite of the fog, the 
helmets of the Romans glittering in the sun. 
Such writing has passed for History, in pro- 
fane as well as in sacred writers ; only with 
this distinction, that, when sacred writers 
tell us incredibilities and impossibilities, they 
must be believed, because such facts are then 
miracles. A still greater prodigy happened The gods 
on the very day when Marius conquered the deliver a 
Kimbri. " The people of Rome received the 
news of the battle, not, as is usual, by the 
mouths of men, but, if we may believe it, by 
the intervention of the gods themselves. For 
the very same day on which the contest 
was decided, two young men, crowned with 



366 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

laurels, were seen, in front of the temple of 
Castor and Pollux, to deliver a letter to the 
Praetor ; and a general rumour prevailed in 
the theatre of a victory over the Kimbri, 
attended with the expression ' May it be 
happy for us ! ' What could be more won- 
derful, what more extraordinary, than this ? 
For as if Rome, raised on her own hills, had 
taken a view of the battle, the people were 
clapping their hands in the city, as is the 
case at a show of gladiators, at the very 
moment when the Kimbri were falling in the 
field." After this passage we need not be 
astonished when he tells us seriously that 
The the statue of Apollo at Cumae, perspired out 

statue^ °f concern f° r Asia ; or when he describes 
Apollo. the ships of Antony, and remarks " that they 
moved not without groaning on the part of 
the sea, and fatigue on that of the winds ; " 
or when he states that Caesar returned from 
Britain over a calm sea, adding " that the 
ocean seemed to acknowledge itself unequal 
to cope with him." We have dwelt more 
circumstantially on these prodigies, because 
they have been used in other forms for re- 
ligious purposes. Occurrences, however, if 
incredible in one ease, must be incredible in 
all other cases, or a scientific treatment of 
History would be impossible. That such 
incredibilities found credit, shows that the 
Romans were well prepared by their profane 
writers to receive any number of mysteries ; 
for if heathen gods could appear and deliver 
messages of distant victories, why should not 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 367 

real angels have announced the birth of the 
Deity itself? The stupendous and marvellous 
was thus fostered by these very practical 
Roman writers. 

7. " Historic Augusts Scriptores " (The The six 
Writers of Imperial History). Under this ^ T ^ a 
heading are comprised the Six Historians, "imperial 
who produced a number of biographies of fche 18tory ' 
Roman Emperors, from Hadrian to Cams and 
iiis sons (117 — 285 a.d.). They are very de- 
fective, for the lives of Nerva, Trajan, of the 
Philips and the Decii, and also the beginning 
of the life of Valerian, are missing. Their 
style is bad, clumsy, and harsh ; but they 
contain much special historical information, 
which the authors compiled from edicts, let- 
ters, newspapers, older Chronicles, and An- 
nals. The names of the authors are JEIius 
Spartianus and Vulcatius Gallicanus, contem- 
poraries of Diocletian ; Trebellius Pollio, 
who lived under Diocletian and Constantine 
the Great ; Flavius Vopiscus, of Syrakuse, 
who wrote under Constantine the Great ; 
jElius Lampridius, who is often confounded 
with ^Elius Spartianus ; and Julius Capito- 
linus, who wrote under Diocletian and Con- 
stantine the Great. 

8. Sextus Aurelius Victor was the de- Sextus 
scendant of a humble African family, but *™ ellua 
in consequence of his vast learning and in- 
dustry in writing History, was appointed 
Governor of Pannonia by the Emperor Ju- 
lian, who made his acquaintance in 361 a.d., 
at Sirmium. Later on he was raised to the 



368 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

office of Praetor at Rome. His great work, 
i( De u De Ccesaribus" a History of the Emperors 
^s«n. f rom Augustus to Julian, is undoubtedly 
genuine, and not without intrinsic value. 
Some asserted that he was a Christian, as he 
advocates honesty and simplicity of life ; 
but this proves nothing, as advocates of 
these virtues are found amongst the writers 
of all the nations of antiquity. Certain pas- 
sages show that he considered himself exclu- 
sively a Roman. Another work, attributed 
to him, has been ascribed by different writers 
to Cornelius Nepos, Suetonius, and Pliny, the 
Younger. It appeared under the title u De 
Viris Illustribus Urbis Romce" (Of the Cele- 
brated Men of the City of Rome), and it is 
impossible to decide by whom it was really 
written. 
(Fiavius) 9. (Flavius) Eutropius, according to Sui- 
Eutropms. (j aSj was an Italian. From himself we learn 

that he served under Julian, and was secre- 
tary (epistolographos) to Constantine the Great. 
He was thought to have been born in Gaul, 
whilst others asserted him to have been a 
Greek. He was also said to have been a 
disciple of Augustin, who did not flourish 
till the end of the fourth and the beginning 
of the fifth century. If Eutropius therefore 
really had been a pupil of Augustin, he must 
have been about ninety-eight or one hundred 
years old at the time, as we cannot well 
assume that Constantine the Great had an 
infant for his secretary. Vossius argues that 
Eutropius could not have been a Christian, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 369 

because " he takes no notice of the ten per- Vossiuson 
secutions ; " which might have been, as they Eutro P ius - 
in reality were, invented at a later period, 
and unscrupulously classified and numbered. 
As a further proof, Vossius says, "that in his 
notice, of Jovian he plainly advocates dis- 
honest dealings." If this were to be con- 
sidered as a proof of Unchristianity, very 
few popes, kings, statesmen, and historians 
could claim the name of Christians. The dis- 
honest dealing of which Eutropius is accused, 
is found in a passage in which he says " that 
Jovian ought not to have made a treaty with 
the Persians, if he had not been resolved to 
throw off the obligation of it, as was done 
by the Romans in all their wars, whenever it 
was in their power." But the whole of Me- Morals and 
diseval and Modern History is, in its phe- J™°" 
nomena, nothing but an eternal breaking of the same 
treaties, whenever convenient or profitable, medieval* 
Popes, emperors, kings, dukes, towns, and and 
generals vied with one another to break t^mes™ 
them, or falsely to prove that others had 
broken them ; in order to be able, under 
some plausible pretext, to invade foreign 
provinces or countries, to plunder and mur- 
der. Or, is it only wrong in a Pagan to 
break treaties, whilst the same treachery is 
permissible in a so-called Believer ? His- 
torians must free themselves of all such jDer- . 
verse opinions, and judge facts on their own 
merits, and not from a biassed sectarian 
point of view. History, purified of such 
preconceived notions, assumes quite different 



B 



History." 



370 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

tints and hues, and facts appear in their 
true light. 
Jp s . We possess, of Eutropius, an "Abridg- 

ment"^" ment of Eoman History," in ten books. He 
? T ? man „ has made some errors as to facts, and also as 
to chronology, in quoting others ; but he 
must be looked upon, on the whole, as an 
honest writer. He has the faults of his 
times, in a less degree, than many of our 
modern Historians. He is too much a Ro- 
man, and omits incidents that are unfavour- 
able to his nation, or colours them favourably. 
Ancient But these are the principal errors committed 
modem by ^ ne generality of modern Historians, es- 
paniaiity. pecially French and English. They ignore 
incidents, omit facts, or alter them as may 
best suit their purposes, or party interests. 
If this proceeding be condemned in ancient 
writers, who could not have had the expe- 
rience and knowledge which we have at our 
command, how much more must our Histo- 
rians be guilty, seeing that they have anti- 
quarian, archaeological, mythological, and 
philological researches at their disposal, and 
yet obstinately distort whatever might weak- 
en the preposterous assertions of ignorant 
and superstitious ages. They will, on no 
account, allow that their authorities might 
The have made mistakes. It is difficult to break 

difficulty w ^-k ^q p as t. There are only a few His- 

of breaking . „ , J 1 

with the torians who, alter having undergone a long 
pasL and painful struggle, are able to divest them- 
selves of these prejudices, hallowed by age, 
and by the thoughtless repetitions of the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 371 

pious and learned men of former times. Such 
notions, fictions, and impossibilities, repeated 
from generation to generation for thousands 
of years, become "fact-crystallisations" in 
the brains of mankind, which the slow and 
gradual process of progressive knowledge 
and civilization alone can dissolve. (See 
page 24.) 

The text of Eutropius was in a very muti- The text 
lated state when revised in 1516 a.d., by^rithigsof 
Ignatius; 1546 a.d., by Schonhovius ; and Emropras. 
later on, by Paulus Diaconus. When any 
original manuscript, after so long a lapse of 
time, has gone through so many hands, it is 
rather unjust to criticise the moral tenden- 
cies of its writer. 

10. Sextus Eufus, or Festus Eufus (more Sextu 3 
correctly, Sextus Rufus Festus), was an ut- - Rufus - 
terly unknown man, and wrote, when very ad- 
vanced in years, an "Abridgment of Roman 
History," by order of the Emperor Valens. 

It is a useful book, without any higher pre- 
tension. His style is fragmentary and un- 
polished. 

11. Ammianus Marcellinus, probably by Ammianus 
birth a noble Greek, of Antiochia, early Marcel - 
devoted him sen to conscientious study. He 
served, in the reign of Constantius, in the 

staff of the body-guard (protectores, or, as 
some write, prefectores domestici), into which 
none but nobles were admitted. Under 
the command of Ursicinus, he attended 
several expeditions, and was present, under 
Julian, in the campaigns against the Per- 

2 b 2 



372 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 



His works. 



Professor 
Edmsav. 



Bayle, the 
Ereneh 
Biogra- 
pher. 



Diffii- 

culties 

arising 

from 

different 

readings. 

Reasons 
■why he 
could not 
have been 
a Christian 



sians. The " Roman History," which Mar- 
cellinus wrote in thirty-one books (the first 
thirteen are lost), comprises a period of 282 
years. It began with the accession of Nerva 
96 a,d., where Tacitus and Seutonius end 
their works, and was continued to the death 
of Valens, 378 a.d. Professor Ramsay (in 
Smith's " Dictionary of Greek and Roman 
Biography") says: "We are indebted to 
Marcellinus for a knowledge of many im- 
portant facts not elsewhere recorded, and for 
much valuable insight into the mode of 
thought, and the general tone of public feel- 
ing prevalent in his day." Bayle, the cele- 
brated French Biographer and Historian, 
assigns him a place amongst the best Roman 
Historians. Impartiality was his greatest 
merit, and he rarely described what he did 
not witness. Though he remained faithful to 
the religion of his forefathers, he never used 
a disparaging word against Christianity — so 
much so, that some Historians, like Pierre 
Pithou and Claude Chifflet (both French 
writers of the seventeenth century a.d.), assert 
that he was a Christian. The internal evi- 
dence, however, of his works militates against 
this assumption. Historians have not only to 
deal with the difficulties presented by origi- 
nal writers, but also with the different inter- 
pretations, readings and commentaries to 
which their works are subjected at later 
periods. A Christian, who wrote under em- 
perors hostile to Christianity, could surely 
not have contented himself with being just 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 373 

and impartial. If a true Christian in the 
spirit of those times, he must certainly have 
declared his religion to be the only correct 
and infallible one. He would, without doubt, 
have used some strong and condemning 
phrases against the growing idolatry, which 
must have been an abomination to him. 
A really Christian writer would not have 
dared to praise the justice, virtue, and moral 
dignity of Julian, who, having imbibed the 
spirit of ancient sages and heroes, wished to 
protect religious factions with an equal hand ; 
who re-introduced Paganism, and became an 
apostate to the only true religion which his 
uncle had established. A Christian would at 
least have mildly protested against the re- 
introduction of Polytheism, the worship of 
the Sun, and the whole philosophical system 
advocated at those times. A Christian, who 
must have looked with horror upon the apos- 
tasy of Julian, could not possibly have been 
silent on these points, like Marcellinus. No 
Christian existed, even during the time of 
the most sanguinary persecutions, who did 
not curse idolatry, and treat the Pagans or 
infidels with contempt and insult. And yet 
we are to believe that Marcellinus, who has 
nothing but praise for Julian, and not one 
word of obloquy against those who differed 
from his supposed religious mode of thinking, 
was a Christian. The assumption does great 
honour to the Pagan whom good Christians 
are anxious to claim as their own because of 
his high qualities. A passage in the twenty- 



374 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

The seventh book of his History, in which he 

passage in censures the licentious luxur j and pride of 
twenty- the Bishops of Rome, comparing their be- 
Bo^con- hayiour with the sober simplicity and hu- 
sidered as mility of the Bishops in the Provinces, has 
his roofof also been quoted as a proof that he must 
Cbri . s - have been a Christian. He certainly describes 
the bitter struggle and sanguinary conflict 
between priest Damasus and priest Ursinus, 
who both were eager to obtain the Bishopric 
of Rome, and whose partisans carried their 
violence to actual battle, in which Christians 
wounded and killed Christians. He paints 
the strife between those who were taught 
" to love their neighbours as themselves," 
and records with horror the fact that in one 
Christian church (the basilica of Sicininus) 
137 dead bodies were found. He is obliged 
to confess "that the populace, who had been 
thus roused to a state of ferocity, were with 
great difficulty restored to order ;" and ex- 
claims, " I do not deny, when I consider the 
ostentation that reigns at Rome, that those 
who desire such rank and power (meaning 
the episcopal rank and power) may be justi- 
fied in labouring with all possible exertion 
and vehemence to obtain their wishes, since, 
after they have succeeded, they will be secure 
for the future, being enriched by offerings 
from matrons, riding in carriages, dressing 
splendidly, and feasting luxuriously, so that 
their entertainments surpass even royal ban- 
quets. And they might be really happy if, 
despising the vastness of the city, which they 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 375 

excite against themselves by their vices, they 
were to live in imitation of some of the 
priests in the provinces, whom the most 
rigid abstinence in eating and drinking, and 
plainness of apparel, and eyes always cast 
on the ground, recommend to the everlasting 
Deity and his true worshippers, as pure and 
sober-minded men." This passage does not what the 
prove that he was a Christian ; but it testifies J^StF 6 
to the lofty spirit of the writer, who, not proves. 
blinded by religious superstition, was able to 
recognize virtue in any creed. In another 
paragraph he praises the martyrs, who, true 
to their convictions, are ready to suffer death. 
Here he shows his impartiality in admiring 
the firmness of soul in those whose religious 
opinions differ from his own. These and 
similar statements recommend him as one of 
the most reliable Historians. 

There is no greater test of the historical The test of 
genius of a writer, than his faculty of finding g eni°us! a 
something good in the creeds of others. An 
author who could deny the high moral per- 
fection in the teachings of Confucius, or 
Buddha, or Christ, would be utterly unfit for 
writing History. For it is as little necessary 
for a Christian to abuse other religions, in 
order to extol his own, as it would be for the 
priests of Buddha to ignore, or to diminish the 
grandeur of Christianity to demonstrate the 
perfection of Buddhism. Truth is compatible 
with justice; and any religion that attempted 
to take root in the minds of humanity by 
means of cursing, damning, and abusing 



376 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

other religious creeds, would, wherever and 
by whomsoever professed, only exhibit its 
own inherent corruption and dissolution. All 
such creeds have vanished, and must vanish ; 
and their extinction is but a question of time. 
Marcellinus, though not possessing the bene- 
fit of belonging to the Christian religion of 
those times, participated at all events in the 
far greater glory of having spoken, as a true 
Christian ought, of a religion which he did 
not profess, 
other Besides their impartiality, the works of 

m Marcel- Marcellinus have other highly valuable quali- 
linus. ties. He introduces notices of the customs 
and manners of the Saracens, Skythians, Sar- 
matians, Huns, Alans, and Egyptians; he 
gives us geographical descriptions of Gaul, 
the Pontus, and Thrace ; he writes on earth- 
quakes, and attempts to explain them in 
different ways; and though his hypotheses 
are not in accordance with the theories of 
modern physical geographers, we must ac- 
knowledge his great merit in having tried to 
check superstition with regard to such pheno- 
mena, by giving them a scientific explanation ; 
which, at a period when every extraordinary 
occurrence was attributed to supernatural 
agencies, was the more praiseworthy. His 
vast learning may be estimated from his re- 
marks on comets ; his inquiries into eclipses ; 
his medical researches into the causes of 
epidemics; his zoological theories, and his 
observations on the fertilization of palms ; 
according to which he was well acquainted 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 377 

with the two sexes of these trees, attributing 
to them " delight in their mutual love." His 
universal grasp, indefatigable industry, and 
honesty of purpose raise him to the rank of 
a model writer, with whom we conclude this 
list of the most important Historians of the 
Imperial period of Rome. 

History cannot be studied from strictly Some non- 
historical writers alone ; but naturalists, geo- ^^ 
graphers, archaeologists, moralists, orators, writers of 
poets, and satirists should be read to enable Stance." 
us to form a correct notion of the intellectual 
activity, and the innermost mode of thinking 
of a nation, and the well-balanced or disturbed 
state of the two forces working in humanity. 
Literature is undoubtedly the most reliable 
mirror of the true character of a nation. The 
Literature and art of the Romans, as well as 
their social organization, became more and 
more impregnated with Greek ideas, mingled 
with Egyptian mysticism. The principal Schools in 
schools, spread all over the Empire, exclu- 1^^^ 11 
sively occupied themselves with the study 
of grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, law, and 
medicine. History and the fine arts were alto- 
gether excluded : History, for reasons which 
we have amply explained in this chapter ; the 
fine arts, because they were looked upon by 
the Romans as superfluous trifles, or merely 
used for the purpose of dazzling the masses 
with stupendous brick and marble monu- 
ments, constructed at the bidding of some 
vainglorious tyrant. The teachers were 
well paid : Eumenius, who taught rhetoric at Eumenius. 



378 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOKY. 

the School at Autun, received £1,300 per 
annum; but his instruction was merely me- 
chanical and technical. Free-thought, and a 
spirit of independent inquiry were mercilessly 
suppressed and utterly neglected. This is the 
reason why the Romans did not possess one 
philsopher, in the strict sense of the word. 

Seneca, desjDite all his excellent precepts, 
can only be ranged with moralists; and 
even amongst these, he does not occupy the 
highest rank. He advocated virtue, self- 
denial, and contempt of worldly pomp and 
vanity; but did so from a mean motive. 
He wished to impress his readers with the 
conviction, that it was more advisable and 
comfortable to be good than to be vicious ; 
for vice did not reward its votaries with 
happiness. He lost himself, both in his life 
and in his writings, in contradictory asser- 
tions; and, in spite of his lofty language, was 
guilty of despicable deeds of servility and 
flattery. We may excuse him; for he only 
wrote in the spirit of his times, and faithfully 
recorded the terrible moral and immoral, 
intellectual and superstitious extremes, in 
which even the best thinkers of his period 
were tossed to and fro. His writings are 
full of instruction, and cannot be ignored by 
Historians. 
M.Fabms M. Fabius Quinctilianus (Quinctilian) was 
iianus U " a teacher of rhetoric, and exercised consider- 
able influence on the intellectual tendencies 
of his contemporaries. He opposed the de- 
generacy of Roman literature, and tried to 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 379 

re-establisli simplicity and truthfulness in pub- 
lic oratory and literary compositions. But 
he could as little escape the impressions of 
the corrupt society in which he lived, as 
Seneca, and used high-sounding phrases, 
vapid dialectics, and empty words to check 
the bombastic utterances of other writers. 

Pliny (the Younger) left us a collection of Pliny the 
Letters and an oration in praise of the Em- Youn s er * 
peror Trajan. His writings are of the 
highest importance to Historians. He was 
an intimate friend of Tacitus and the Em- 
peror Trajan, and his letters serve to prove 
beyond doubt that there were some bright 
exceptions amongst the Romans, who strug- 
gled heroically to counteract the pernicious 
corruptions of their times. We may learn, 
moreover, from the Letters of Pliny, the mode impor- 
of transacting business in his times, and the l^rsf hlS 
treatment of social and political matters of 
public importance. The diplomatic caution, 
refinement of expression, and artificial polite- 
ness in them, must convince us how difficult 
it was, even for the most influential citizen, 
to form an independent opinion ; and how 
carefully we must sift anything said or written 
in that period, if we wish to write History 
from an unbiassed standpoint. 

Pliny (the Elder) called his great work a Pliny the 
" History of Nature," and it may be con- Elaer ' 
sidered one of the most complete encyclo- 
paedias of those times. The literary activity 
of the Romans in all the branches of applied 
and practical sciences was stupendous. The 



380 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

range of knowledge necessary to anyone who 
aspired to be honoured, with the name of a 
learned man, became day by day more ex- 
panded; and Pliny the Elder, undertook, in a 
true Roman spirit, what whole societies have 
endeavoured — to write a compendium of all 
that was known in his times. He left to 
, posterity a gigantic work, in which no less 
than 2,500 independent writers are referred 
to, embracing all the branches of Natural 
Science. He made many mistakes in quoting 
authors, whose statements ought to have been 
carefully and critically investigated; but 
these shortcomings were unavoidable in a 
work of such magnitude. His writings are 
the more important, as they contain quota- 
tions from, and references to many works 
now altogether lost. 

Among the Roman authors who did not 
devote themselves to History, but exercised 
great influence on the character of their con- 
Lucius temporaries, we must mention Lucius Apu- 
Apuiems. LEIUS? w j 10 was k orn an( j e d uca t e d in Africa. 

His works may be studied to advantage as 

those of one of the writers who introduced 

Egyptian mysticism into Eoman literature. 

^f 3 . He indulges in visions ; uses an obscure, and 

allegories . ° , . , , 7 . , , 

and sometimes a highly poetical, language ; and 

metaphors, abounds in allegories, metaphors, and mira- 
culous assertions, containing some symbolic 
hidden meaning. He was the most cherished 
writer of all the pious and fanatic souls of his 
times, who delighted in his stern moral dic- 
. tates, interspersed with licentious descriptions 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 381 

of the most abominable character. He com- Asneticism 
bined ascetic self-denial with uncontrolled g nd ,.. 
sensuality ; a combination often to be found 
in those who have intercommunications with 
the so-called spiritual world. Apuleius worked 
out a whole "Spiritology " systematically. He Wrote on 
classified and arranged the different Spirits, " s P irit8 -" 
and declared them to be vapours, or gases ; 
in fact something more or less material ; and 
produced through his vagaries on the super- 
natural, as must always be the case, sensual 
excitement and depravity. The people looked 
upon his writings as a Revelation, for he 
advocated secret consecrations, mystic initia- 
tions, and miraculously efficacious amulets ; he 
taught how to predict the future, and popu- 
larised mysticism, incantations, prophecies, 
conjurations, visions, and dreams. He was 
undoubtedly one of the most powerful instru- 
ments for the propagation of superstition ; 
and the next period in the historical de- 
velopment of Humanity would be wholly 
unintelligible without a knowledge of his 
writings. 

Not less remarkable were the works of Gaienus, 
G-alenus, born 131 a.d., at Pergamum, one 
of the most distinguished Roman naturalists 
and physicians. He advocated experimental 
philosophy, and insisted upon a higher 
mental culture amongst medical men. He 
had a beneficial influence at a time when 
classic wisdom and learning were despised ; 
when History and Philosophy were treated 
with deep contempt ; when nature was 



382 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

looked upon as the storehouse of all that was 
evil ; "when only the super-sensual had an 
interest ; when everyone already pretended 
to have had sacred visions ; when fanaticism 
and superstition were rampant, and no one 
believed in man's mental elevation and in- 
spiration for truth and virtue from higher 
and unselfish motives. Galenus endeavoured 
to awaken a taste for the study of nature, 
and for genuine intellectual activity. Yet 
even he could not altogether escape the in- 
fluence of the spirit of his times, for he 
believed in supernatural agencies and mira- 
culous apparitions, and was firmly convinced 
of the power exercised by invisible spirits 
over the visible material world. 
Claudius Claudius Ptolemy, born TO a. d., in Egypt, 
Ptolemy. was as important in Astronomy, Chronology, 
and Geography, as Galenus in Medicine. He 
systematized, though on false principles, all 
that was known in ancient times of Astro- 
nomy. His system swayed the learned 
Christian world for a long period, and was 
even made a kind of religious dogma, which 
no one was allowed to doubt or contradict. 
Many an honest mathematician was con- 
demned as a heretic, because he could not 
see that the sun moved round the earth. 
There is scarcely a work of greater import- 
ance than Ptolemy's Astronomy, which is 
known under the half- Arabic, half-Greek title 
of u AlmaqesUs" Church and Schools raised 
him into the position of an infallible authority, 
and this explains the lasting and pernicious 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 383 

influence which he exercised, and which 
retarded the progress of astronomical and 
chronological knowledge. He compiled a 
so-called " Canon of Eoyal Dynasties," 
though he did not attempt by it to settle the 
chronology of General History, but only 
to furnish some easy means for astronomers 
to calculate observations more quickly, in 
drawing analogies between some heavenly 
phenomena and the reigns of kings. This 
work was considered sacred, and is used 
as the basis of dogmatic chronology by 
narrow - minded bigots, even in our own 
enlightened century. He divided Ancient 
History into four principal periods, or cycles, 
which he called after the four most important 
nations, the Assyro-Babylonian, the Persian, 
the Makedonian, and the Roman Universal 
Monarchies. Each of these periods he sub- 
divided, according to the years of the reigns 
of the rulers, into smaller sections, and re- 
duced everything to the assumed chronology 
of the Egyptians. Eroru this it is evident 
that his works must be carefully studied by 
Historians. 

Equally useful are the writings of Pausa- p 
nias, who probably lived in the first half of 
the second century a.d. His works are in- 
dispensable to a correct appreciation of Greek 
antiquities. He was not more successful in 
divesting himself of the influence of his times, 
than any of the other writers. He delights 
in miraculous incidents, never doubts super- 
natural occurrences, and does not shrink from 



ausamas. 



384 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

circulating a falsehood. But in his minute 
and careful descriptions of Greek sculptures 
and temples he may be trusted ; and he has 
rendered a very great service to History in 
that portion of his work which relates to 
monuments, which he himself saw. A know- 
ledge of Greek History, without a thorough 
acquaintance with Greek archaeology, is im- 
possible. 

By the side of these earnest writers we must 
Lucian. mention Lucian, who ought to be read and 
studied; for amidst laughter and witty sar- 
casms he shows, in an entirely peculiar form, a 
hatred of all fanaticism, superstition, and non- 
sense. He is angry with the fabulous and in- 
flated writers of his period. He was one of 
those scoffers, who are produced at times when 
morals and intellect are disturbed, and when 
men are passing through a transition state of 
development. There are at such periods, 
minds that can only see the evils of a society 
in dissolution, and empty the vial of their 
wrath equally on morality and superstition ; 
on wisdom and stupidity ; on virtue and vice ; 
condemning, scorning, abusing, and despising 
everything around them. Lucian, however, 
gives us a true picture of his times. He 
scourges with bitter mockery the crouching 
servility of the low; the insolent pride of the 
mighty ; the ignorance of the learned ; the 
hypocrisy of the pious; and, above all, the 
religious madness of the people, endeavour- 
ing to trample under foot common sense, 
reason, honesty, justice, and genuine virtue. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 385 

He treats the Christians with supreme con- 
tempt ; not because they were Christians, but 
on account of the superstitious abuses which 
had been introduced into, and passed under 
the name of, Christ's Teachings. But he was, 
like the whole Roman literature, cold and 
realistic, and without any appreciation of the 
ideal in man. 

Though Roman literature and art always 
retained more or less of their Greek type, they 
were without Greek refinement, sentiment, 
taste, and inspiration. Virgil's works were Virgil, 
an elegant imitation of Homer's ; Horace's, a pSf* 
very clever revival of Pindar's ; Phcedrus's, Ovid, 
a faded repetition of JEsop's ; Ovid's, a pol- anT ntluS ' 
ished recapitulation of Hesiod's ; Terentius's, a Piautus. 
sensational copy oi Euripides' s ; and Plautus's, 
a colourless rehearsal of Aristophanes' s. Their 
temples, in all their pomp, grandeur, and 
magnificence, were constructed after Greek 
patterns in their details, and had nothing 
original in them, but the Roman vault and 
the Roman massiveness. The Romans ex- 
celled their masters sometimes in the polish 
of form, though that very form was borrowed; 
but they never attained Greek originality 
of thought, depth of feeling, and simplicity 
of conception. Roman literature, in all its Roman 
branches, was not the outgrowth of the genu- literature 

■ -... f, n °. . .. ° 1.1 an impor- 

me inspiration of the nation ; it was, like tatkm from 
their gods, a mixed importation from abroad, abroad - 
which never lost its peculiar character, ex- 
cept in a few historical and satirical writers. 
For, hand in hand with their great His- 

2 c 



386 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

torians, tlieir satirists strove to reveal to tlie 
world the real Roman character, in all its 
baseness and shamelessness. The Greeks 
also possessed some satirists, with whom the 
tendency to laugh and to improve was equally 
strong; whilst, with the Romans, we find the 
predominating aim to delight in immorality 
and egotistic mischief; to drag down every 
higher and nobler sentiment into the mire 
of vulgarity. Whenever and wherever such 
writers abound, the State must be in a dan- 
gerous moral and intellectual condition. 

We need, therefore, not be astonished that 
Rome produced under the Empire, besides a 

Juvenal. Lucian, a Juvenal, who apparently clamours, 
rages, and foams against the licentiousness 
of his times, but delights in minute and 
exciting descriptions of lascivious details. 
He is the more to be condemned, the more 
talent he possessed, for he dragged innocence 
into the vortex of depravity with his dialec- 
tical niceties. 

Petronius Petronius Aebiter, probably born at Mas- 
silia, was brought up at Rome, at the Court 
of the profligate Claudius. He devoted him- 
self to earnest studies, but used his learning 
and poetical talents for utterly unworthy 
purposes. Nero made him his u Arbiter Ele- 
gantice" or " master of pleasures, 7 ' and the 
fertile imagination of the refined scholar 
had to provide ever new amusements for 
the boundless licentiousness of his master. 
With barefaced insolence, and in an exqui- 
site style, Petronius undertook to give us, in 



Arbiter. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 387 

his " Satyricon," half fiction, half truth. He His 
describes the Court life of Claudius and Nero "®*$ Tim 
with a boldness, which has never been sur- 
passed. Some critics took the view, that he 
painted profligacy and debauchery in such 
glaring colours, only to disgust his readers. 
This aim cannot be traced in his writings : 
on the contrary, they produce the impression 
that they are objectionable compilations by 
an old, enervated man, who delights in the 
remembrances of a licentious life, which he 
adorns with little poetical effusions, disgrac- 
ing prose and poetry alike. He often roars 
with satirical laughter at misdeeds, not as 
such, but only at those, who would like to 
enjoy them, and are too stupid to know how 
to commit them with grace and refinement. 
As pictures of the thorough depravity of 
Roman social life, his works have some 
historical value for a well-trained mind. 

Of the same stamp are the epigrams of Martfaiis. 
Martialis, who lived during the reigns of the 
Emperors Titus and Domitian, under the pro- 
tection of a freedman (Parthenius), of the 
latter. Poor at first, he married a very rich 
woman, Marcella, after having separated from 
his first wife, Cleopatra. He wrote about 
twelve hundred epigrams in an extremely re- 
fined style, full of wit, reflecting the coarse 
state of his period. He praises a Domitian 
and a Nerva and a Trajan in the same breath, 
proving that he had no moral principles. 
He extols virtue and generosity on one page, 
and pollutes the next with the grossest vul- 



2 c 2 /£SS^ AN RtF ^*> 
NtW YORK, N, Y, 



LIBRARY 



388 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

garities. He was honest enough to confess 
that he had only one purpose in writing, to 
make money, and to be read by the rich, 
whose depraved taste he flattered in every 
way. 
Delight in The Roman fops and dandies of those times 
Kteratoe delighted m these three writers, and their 
works were also cherished by some Christian 
monks, who issued editions of them, omitting 
all that was earnest and moralising, and 
selecting the most objectionable passages. 
Towards the end of the fourth century a.d., 
and during the dark period of mediaeval igno- 
rance, nobles and priests were said to have 
read, side by side with their pious books, the 
works of Juvenal, Petronius Arbiter, and 
Martialis. Historians, in studying these 
writers, will be enabled to understand the 
principal causes of the helpless moral and 
political condition of the Romans. The 
deeper humanity sank, the higher the empty 
scale of morals rose, and the nearer drew the 
hour of death and of the total dissolution of 
Two new the Roman Empire. Two historical factors 
HistoiV m nex ^ come into play ; and, on the ruins of the 
Grseco-Roman and ancient Asiatic world rises 
a new world, in which we shall have to trace 
internal conflicts, attempting to bring about 
a harmonious reconciliation between realism 
and idealism, matter and spirit, morals and 
The intellect. The Romans fulfilled their destiny ; 

ILTtheir they crushed the fancy-wrought gods of 
destiny, man's own make, and horrified humanity 
through an excess of licentiousness and 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 389 

tyranny. They taught man through the real 
universality of despair, to seek spiritual uni- 
versality of hope. With an irresistible force 
and by sanguinary oppression they drilled 
mankind to yearn for something higher, and 
for the deliverance from all passions born of 
brutal instincts. The Romans were un- 
doubtedly the best and most accomplished 
lawyers ; but their laws were exceptionally 
framed for some tangible reality, property 
and matter, to the detriment of men endowed 
with mind. These laws secured comfort on 
earth, so long as men possessed real goods 
and chattels, and left the numberless poor an 
easy prey to those who now appeared, and 
proclaimed a total subversion of all religious, a mhver- 
social, and scientific relations. They promised JXtioL^ 
salvation exceptionally to believers, declaring takes 
the poor to stand higher than the rich, and p ace ° 
scorning all scientific inquiry as detrimental 
to our earthly happiness. The illiterate were 
to rule the destinies of man. Faith, humility, 
and ignorance, were to be the component 
elements in the future historical development 
of Humanity, and were placed in hostile 
antagonism to conviction, wealth (meaning 
industrial, artistic, and commercial activity), 
and science. 

The struggle for 1,500 years was fierce, 
terrible, and sanguinary, but the triumph 
was on the side of all that is noble and 
glorious in man. 



390 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOKY. 



CHAPTER V. 

Chris- The two most important events in the 

andthe historical development of Humanity were 
migration undoubtedly the Foundation of Christianity 
North- an d the g rea t migration of the North- 
European European people towards the South. The 
one was entirely spiritual and the other eth- 
nical. The one changed the very mode of 
perceiving, feeling and thinking in man, and 
the other affected the national character of 
the different Roman Provinces that found 
themselves, step by step, invaded, and their 
whole population ethnically changed. 
Both these phenomena may be treated theo- 
logically as miracles, or providential enact- 
ments of the Deity ; or their evolution, 
progress and effect may be inquired into 
from a strictly historical point of view. We 
have nothing to do with miracles or theology, 
and confine ourselves to a scientific investi- 
gation of these two stupendous events, that 
gain, instead of losing in grandeur, when 
tianit" treated historically. We shall see Chris- 
treated tianity change by degrees in the hands of 
historically Theologians, who simply took the places of 
the Roman Emperors as Popes ; of the Dic- 
tators, Praetors and Consuls, as Cardinals 
and Archbishops ; of the Pro-Consuls and 
Tribunes, as Bishops and Archdeacons ; and 
transformed the Praetorian body guards and 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 391 

legions into presbyters, deacons and monks. 
The whole Imperial Roman Empire was 
transformed into a " kingdom of God." 
Reality had to yield to a power which was 
not contented to use man as a mere automa- 
ton of flesh and blood, but seized upon his 
u inner" nature, and thus became master of 
his body and soul. 

To give a clear and intelligible picture How to 
of the origin and spread of Christianity, ciear'^nd 
Historians must make themselves thorough- intelligible 
ly acquainted with the moral and intellec- tbVorigin 
tual elements that pervaded humanity at ofctms- 
the time of the advent of Christ. To 
detach Christianity from the influences of 
the different creeds that preceded its for- 
mation, is one of the greatest mistakes 
Historians can be guilty of. If we as- 
sume a causal connection between facts and 
facts, no historical phenomenon can pre- 
sent itself as a mere effect without a cause. 
So soon as this indisputable axiom is ad- 
mitted, it will be necessary to treat Chris- 
tianity with the same impartiality as the 
teachings of Confucius, or the doctrines of Zo- 
roaster, the laws of Menes, Moses, Minos, Ly- 
kurgus and Solon, or the analogous reforms 
of Osiris, Krishna and Buddha. In all these 
phenomena we have to distinguish between 
the essence and the form. The essence of 
the teachings of all law-givers was the re- 
demption of man from the bondage of his 
animal nature, and the development and 
culture of his higher intellectual and spiritual 



392 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

nature. To detach Christianity from the 
causes of which its origin and working were 
a necessary sequence, is to raise it into the 
realm of miracles. And here terrible, un- 
answerable questions must present theni- 
A few selves to the thinking mind. Why did this 
concerning nriracle not happen earlier, so as to save 
the ' millions and millions of creatures from ig- 
louTorigin norance, and, as some pious divines believe, 
of Chris- eternal damnation? Why should the san- 
iamty * guinary miracle of a self-sacrificing God have 
had so partial and slow an effect ? Why was 
the miracle not made universal ? Why had 
Christianity to be established in torrents of 
blood, amidst the horrible shrieks of mar- 
tyred and tortured believers and heretics, 
and burning human sacrifices? Why was 
the efficacy of the miracle quite invisible, 
save in the progress, natural to any creed, 
supported by fire and sword, by money and 
worldly advantages granted to its professors? 
Why all the anxious jealousies, the falsifi- 
cations of documents, the oppression of 
learning, the abhorrence of our reasoning 
power, if this was a miraculously ordained 
divine act, performed for the salvation of 
humanity ? 
Chris- We cannot shut our eyes to the fact that, 

S^Ja e * n analysing Christianity, we find it to 
store- foe the universal storehouse of all the dif- 
aiuTeeds. ferent creeds, that have swayed the human 
mind. We find in Christianity the strictest 
Monotheism, mixed with the Trinitarian 
mystery of the Brahmans, Buddhists^ and 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 393 

Egyptians ; the Incarnation and Atonement The 
theories of the Indians and Egyptians ; the eSeSs 11 
dualistic principle of the Zoroastrians ; the °. f c . hris - 
Jewish and Persian assumptions of angels 
and devils; the lofty moral enactments of 
Confucius and Sokrates ; the dreamy ideal- 
ism of Plato, and the bright realism of Aris- 
totle. Mystics and Rationalists, Believers 
and Heretics, blind Fanatics and doubting 
Heathens, Necromancers and Philosophers, 
Miracle workers and satirical Scoffers, rich 
and poor, mighty and weak, learned and 
ignorant, found, in the tenets of Christianity, 
some congenial and sympathetic elements. 
The most important fact with regard to the 
" new faith" was, that Christianity became 
but another name for those universal prin- 
ciples and eternal laws, which, if recognised 
and put in motion, stimulate into activity 
the innate dormant forces of our human 
nature. This fact must explain the superior 
vitality of the Christian code of morals, 
which has led humanity in the West of the 
world uninterruptedly onward on the path 
of progress in arts, discoveries, inventions, 
and sciences. Historians of other creeds must 
endeavour to answer these questions: Why did Questions 
empires and communities professing any other answered 
creed, in spite of their undoubted priority by 
in many useful arts and inventions, and an ofother 118 
equally good code of morals, remain stationary creeds. 
in their development; and why should the 
Christians have succeeded, slowly and by 
degrees, in working out wise and beneficial 



394 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Univer- 
salism 
pervading 
Chris- 
tianity. 



laws, In producing poetical works of unsur- 
passed excellence, and in raising sciences to 
a climax never attained before ? Suns and 
planets are measured by Christians, the rajs 
of light analysed ; the gradual formation of 
the earth's crust is reconstructed ; the different 
chemical elements, in apparently indivisible 
atoms, are traced ; they speak, by means of 
electricity, at distances of thousands of miles, 
reducing space in its dimensions ; and travel, 
by means of fire and water, at an unheard-of 
speed, reducing time in its duration. 

The universalism, pervading true Chris- 
tianity, alone can serve as an explanation 
of this phenomenon. The mind in the 
East was always ready to acquiesce in some 
religious system. The mind in the West, 
more or less influenced by Greek or Roman 
ideas, always bent on doubt and argument, 
attempted to explain the inexplicable, and 
recognised at last its own creative power. 
Without this mental practice and intel- 
lectual exertion, mankind in the West would 
never have attained its present state of civi- 
lization. As we may trace in nature positive 
and negative electricity, so we can see the 
working of positive and negative intellectual 
Man in the currents in humanity. The currents in the 

East and g aS £ were generally negative. To look back- 
Man in the 1 y ■/ . ° . , . r. 

West. wards — to hope, as it were, everything from 
the past — is the characteristic of Oriental na- 
tions. The intellectual currents of the West 
were positive ; to look to, and to trust in the 
future, whether worldly or spiritual, is the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 395 

distinguishing feature of the "Western world. 
Man in the East shuns new spheres of 
thought, and is contented to move round and 
round in the ever unchangeable circle of 
fixed notions, ceremonies, and customs. Man 
in the West strives for freedom and an eter- 
nal activity ; he must have some goal to long 
for, which presents itself in the form of reli- 
gious enthusiasm, chivalrous daring, un- 
bounded love, a contempt for all danger, and 
a struggle with real or imaginary monsters. 

The finite submitted in humble acqui- The 
escence to the infinite in the East. ^ In the J^?" 1 
West the finite strove to grasp the infinite, finite. 
and to bring harmony into the discordant 
elements of mind and matter, of God and 
nature. These contradictory phenomena led 
the East very early to endeavour to cast a 
light upon their obscure nature, and to at- 
tempt the solution of the riddle of life by 
means of allegories, wild fictions, and in- 
credible fables. The nation that felt the The Jews. 
double nature of humanity most keenly, and 
first became conscious of a more spiritual 
conception of a God, was the Jewish. Yet a national 
they degraded this God to a narrow-minded Go(L 
national Deity, who was only a merciful 
God to His chosen people, under certain 
outward ceremonial conditions, and a God 
of wrath and merciless persecution to all 
those who had not the good fortune to be- 
long, by mere chance of birth, to the chosen 
people. This idea was presumptuous, and 
certainly not the right notion of the Deity. 



396 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Their God had chosen children about Him. 
He cursed all those who did not worship 

javeh. Him as the Javeh, who appeared in a 
fiery bush to Moses, and gave him the two 
stone tables on which He had written the Ten 

The Ten Commandments with His finger. These Com- 

mentT. an " mandments, however, are found to have 
formed the very basis of the Laws of Manu, 
the Indian legislator ; of the founders of the 
Egyptian state organization ; of the enact- 
ments of Zoroaster ; of Minos of Krete ; 
of the Chinese philosopher Confucius ; of 
Lykurgus and Solon, the law-givers of the 
Greeks; of Numa, the mythical Eoman 
king ; of the Teutons — in fact of the legis- 
lators of all the nations in the East and the 
West ! This was only natural, for the moral 
element in these laws could be but one, under 
whatever zone, at whatever time such laws 
had been given. The Deity can as little con- 
tradict Himself in His moral laws, as in His 
physical laws. It is one of the most arrogant 
of the Jewish assumptions to suppose, that 

God's God should have revealed Himself exclu- 
sively to a handful of slaves, who were held 
in abomination by all the surrounding people. 
The world is asked to believe that God en- 
dowed the Greeks with exquisite taste in 
arts, feeling in poetry, and critical discern- 
ment in philosophy; the Romans with un- 
surpassed valour and courage; the Indians 
with marvellous depth of thought; the 
Chinese with filial love and social order ; 
the Persians with purity of thought, purity 



revelation. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 397 

of words, and purity of deeds ; and His own 
chosen people with miserable slavery ! 

(1.) Emerging from a nomadic state, the History of 
Jews passed 450 years in bondage in Egypt. theJews - 

(2.) For 450 years (from Moses to Saul) Democracy 
they lived under a pure democratic Theo- 
cracy, as moral slaves of God and His high 
priest. It was, in fact, theocratic Egypt 
translated into Hebrew, with the omission 
of the Pharaoh (or king). 

(3.) For 450 years they formed a theo- Monarchy. 
cratic Monarchy. They were obliged to 
accept a visible head of their community; 
a kind of representative on earth of God in 
heaven. During this period, dissensions and 
quarrels arose, which lasted for one hundred 
years, and the Hebrews then formed two 
separate kingdoms. 

(a.) Israel, consisting of ten tribes now Tliel ? 1 st 
altogether lost, was ruled for 350 years by f Israel. 
twenty kings, who resided in Samaria. This 
kingdom was destroyed by the Assyrians, 
and ten tribes of the chosen children vanish 
from History ; they were absorbed by the 
surrounding mighty and prospering infidels, 
idolaters, and heretics, who had no notion of 
the true God of the Jews. 

(5.) Judaea, ruled by twenty-one kings, Judsea. 
and then led into captivity by the Baby- 
lonians. 

(4.) The Jews were, for the next 650 More or 
years, in a more or less dependent position. sYavery- 
Two hundred years they groaned under 
Persian rule ; 170 years they sighed under 



398 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Alexander the Great and his successors, the 
wise and learned Ptolemies ; 130 years they 
were, to a certain degree, independent under 
the Maccabees; and for a hundred years more 
in dependence again under the Herods and 
Romans. 
Jerusalem (5.) At last Jerusalem was destroyed, and 
destroyed. £[ ie j ews na( j to wander as exiles into the 

world. They had been mighty, yet piti- 
able, wise and obstinate, and. were now 
homeless and scattered. They gave man- 
kind a creed, which is diametrically op- 
posed to their own, though it sprang from 
Jewish the same root. They taught humanity reli- 
teac mg. g^ ous exclusiveness, proud and fanatic intole- 
rance, and had themselves to suffer, under 
these curses, for more than 2,908 years. 
Hoping against hope, sublimely singing, in 
their despair, of their thirst after God, of 
their fervid longing for righteousness and 
holiness, and yet crouching in the most ab- 
ject fear, trembling for their lives and their 
property, they were at war with reality, and 
despised every higher intellectual and emo- 
tional element in man. 
The Geographically and geologically, the land 

geogra- in which the Jews settled is a perfect marvel. 
situation The region is divided by a river and a sea. 
of the This sea is 1,400 feet below the level of the 
Mediterranean. The river flows downwards, 
far beneath the level of the ocean. The 
banks of the Jordan and the lake Asphaltites 
(the Dead Sea) are the lowest regions of the 
habitable globe. In the West the Jews 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 399 

found some fertile plains, but they never 
could obtain full and peaceable possession of 
them, nor of the sea coast. They were shut 
out from the world, in a mountainous region, 
as in a gloomy tomb. They prided them- 
selves, in this wretched abode, on being the 
only just and righteous nation, and fostered 
an implacable hatred against all the other 
surrounding happier, though not chosen, chil- 
dren of God. In their secluded position, 
with a useless river and an enchanted lake 
of their own, the Jews had time to ponder 
over the great "I am I" mystery of the 
Egyptians. In time, forgetting that they 
had learned it in Egypt, they appropriated 
to themselves the "I am I" as their only 
Deity, in whose image they alone were cre- 
ated, marked, and distinguished. This "I 
am I " granted to them exclusive knowledge 
of, and an insight into, higher sacred mat- 
ters. Their forefather had tasted of the 
tree of knowledge, and their God then cursed The tree of 
him and his descendants, because Adam, the j™^" 
assumed first man, had wanted to become 
" as one of us" as the sacred text runs. This 
"us" contradicts the strict monotheistic 
notion of the Jews, and shows some remi- 
niscence of Egyptian theology in its poly- 
theistic form. Adam and the human race 
were cursed by God, because they wanted 
" to know good and evil." This desire was cer- 
tainly the salvation of humanity, for man 
can only then attain his true manhood, when 
he begins to know evil, and to do good. 



400 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

When he becomes conscious of the iC Univer- 
sal " (the Infinite), he can understand the 
" Particular"— that is, his own human nature 
(the finite). The Jews were as blind to this 
truth as the other Oriental nations on this 
side of the Himalaya Mountains, and they 
were dispersed. Babylon and Niniveh had dis- 
appeared, leaving us relics of a mighty civi- 
lization, and the Jewish towns, the Temple 
and Palace of Solomon, and the independence 
of the Jews passed away. Their theological 
relics, however, remained as the terrible 
sanguinary leaven of a new faith, which 
was formed only after Brahmanic mys- 
teries, Egyptian tenets, Buddhistic dogmas, 
Jewish ceremonies, Greek philosophical re- 
searches, and Roman disciplinary organiza- 
tions had been pounded together by the 
pestle of time in the mortar of history. 
TheJe^s The Jews became most important agents 
the most j the History of the West. They found that 

important ^ J -i-ii , 1 ji i 

agents the God ot Israel had not kept the oath 
History of which they said He had sworn unto their 
the West, fathers, "to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, 
to give thee great and goodly cities, which 
thou buildedst not; and houses full of all good 
things, which thou filledst not, and wells 
digged which thou diggedst not, vineyards 
and olive trees which thou plant edst not." 
(See Deut. vi. 10, 11.) They had experi- 
enced the very contrary. They had con- 
quered and had been conquered ; they had 
settled in other people's lands, in other 
people's towns, and had been driven away. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 401 

The Jews had been unable to find the real The Jevrs 
solution of man's destiny on earth. With able to 
the divine promise, as a fearful, burden on ^^! an ' s 
their minds, they had become strangers in 
all lands over the whole globe, in the 
realm of science and practical invention. 
The divine promise worked with mighty 
power on the unchosen. They did build What the 
towns ; filled their houses with treasures, the ™°*g did. 
products of their skill and genius ; they dug 
wells, planted vineyards, made high roads, 
worked in mines, and became the real pro- 
prietors of goodly things, through industry, 
agriculture, art and science. The passive and 
negative state of the Jews led them, like the 
Persians, Indians, and Egyptians, to long for 
a deliverer, a Messiah ; who appeared to the The 
Indians in the person of Buddha ; to the Messiahs. 
Egyptians as Osiris; and was promised to 
the Persians as Messhiah (man), the recon- 
ciler of good and evil. The Greeks and 
Romans thought they had found the solution 
of man's fate in arts, poetry, philosophy, 
military conquests, legal order, rhetoric, and 
the culture of intellect. They saw only the 
bright side of humanity, and accepted the 
dark side as part of the arrangement to which 
they submitted with resignation. The Jews 
inherited the dualistic theory of day and 
night, light and darkness, Ormuzd and Ah- 
riman, God and Devil, good and evil, from 
the Persians ; and worked it out theologically 
through their deeply-learned prophets, who 
saw the terrible conflict manifested in sin 

2 D 



402 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

and virtue, of which they became earlier and 
in a higher sense conscious. With this con- 
sciousness they approached a state of recon- 
ciliation ; for self-conscious virtue must be 
based on a self-conscious knowledge of evil, 
bringing harmony into man's animal and 
spiritual nature, developing his moral and 
intellectual faculties. In spite of this higher 
moral state, they found themselves cruelly op- 
pressed. They prayed, sighed, and mourned 
at Babylon, and mingled their scalding tears 
with the waves of the Euphrates ; they were 
driven from state to state ; they waited and 
watched ; they fought like heroes ; they 
clung to their God, who, had so few bless- 
ings and so many sufferings for them on 
earth. They were still convinced " that the 
sceptre shall not depart from Judah; and 
unto him shall the gathering of the people 
be" (Gen. xlix. 10), and yet they were 
The trampled under foot by Roman Tetrarchs 

different an( j Prsetors, had no political or social free- 
the Jews, dom, and were themselves divided by reli- 
gious sects and factions. 
The Amongst these were the Pharisees, who 

Pharisees. ms i s t e d on the strict keeping of the law, and 
attributed every misfortune to the neglect 
of some ceremonial ordinance. If hail and 
thunder destroyed the crops, or if sickness 
prevailed, it was due to the wickedness of 
man, which had called down the judgment 
of God. Prayers had not been said in the 
prescribed form ; leavened bread must have 
been eaten instead of unleavened ; the Law 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 403 

must have been violated in one form or 
another. The dead letter of the Scripture 
was everything with them. The word Phari- J h h a e r ^ ct 
see means one who has seceded or separated. 
They believed in predestination, demons, 
the migration of the soul, the resurrection 
of the body, and a future life. They pos- 
sessed great authority over the people, and 
constituted themselves as a separate sect 
about 240 b.c. Besides the written Law, 
given by God on Mount Sinai, they believed 
in an unwritten Law, which had also been 
directly revealed by God, and preserved as 
most holy oral tradition. This unwritten The 
Law was to them even more important than Law!^ 11 
the written, for it was believed to contain 
all the wisdom, science, and truth of the 
world — all History, and all the religious 
ceremonies, with all the secret meanings in 
their allegorical, symbolical, or parabolical 
forms. This oral tradition was afterwards The 
collected under the title of the "Talmud," Talmu(L 
divided into two parts, the " Gemara " and Gemara - 
the " Mishna." The study of the " Talmud" Mistma. 
is called "Midrash," whilst the commentaries Midrash. 
referring to the law are called the " Halacha." Haiacha. 
We have very scanty and wholly unreliable 
historical authorities with reference to the 
Jews, and are not able to fix the origin of 
the " Talmud," as it now exists. The 
"Mishna" is said to have been written 
down at the time of the birth of Jesus Christ. 
The oldest compilation of the whole work in 
its present form is attributed to the Patriarch 

2 d 2 



404 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOKY. 



Tb e> 

Patriarch 

Jehuda. 

The 
Ilabbin- 

ites. 

The 

Gaulonites 
and 
Galileans. 

The 

Messiah 
of the 
Pharisees. 



What the 
Messiah 
would do. 



Jehuda, the Saint, about 219 a.d. The 
Pharisees still form the most influential of 
the Jewish sects, and are known under the 
name of Rabbinites. 

The Gaulonites or Galileans were a more 
fanatical branch of the Pharisees, who held 
as a dogma " that no one must obey any 
mortal in authority, for God alone is our 
Lord." The Pharisees expected as a Messiah 
a real king, a prince, a powerful warrior, who 
would conquer Jerusalem for them, and in- 
stal them as the mighty rulers of the world. 
The Pharisees hoped everything from the in- 
ternal social dissolution of the Roman Empire; 
and trusted that all the people of the earth 
would be laid at the feet of the only righteous 
and godly nation. They were convinced 
that the Messiah would gather round Him 
all the just and the elect, and give them 
plenty on earth, and make them rich and 
powerful, and of long life. 

In spite of their religious fanaticism, the 
Pharisees looked upon God and Nature 
from an exclusively material point of view. 
The Greeks regarded the gods and nature 
with a mind filled with poetical love. They 
heard heavenly music resounding in the 
motions of the starry spheres; they saw 
gods everywhere, and worshipped them from 
the depths of their grateful hearts with- 
out a hope for reward. The Pharisees 
always made a profitable bargain with 
their God. Plenty on earth was the re- 
ward of godliness. Their piety had to 



TIIE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 405 

manifest itself in eating and drinking. " At Coarse 
even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning 
ye shall be filled with bread ; and ye shall 
know that I am the Lord your God," was 
the promise made to the Jews. Further, 
Jacob vowed a vow, to which the Pharisees 
subscribed with all their hearts and minds, 
saying, " If God will be with me, and will 
keep me in this way that I go, and will give 
me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so 
that I come again to my father's house in 
peace, then shall the Lord be my God" 
(Gen. xxviii. 20). The provident Patri- 
arch makes his recognition of the Lord as his 
God dependent on His giving him bread to 
eat. To drink and to eat was, with the 
Jews, the most solemn initiation and termi- 
nation of all their religious ceremonies. The 
Greeks cultivated man's higher artistic and 
philosophical aspirations. The Persians 
ruled, the Romans conquered. The Egyp- 
tians worked out mystic problems. The Jews 
feasted. When the Seventy Elders accom- 
panied Moses on Mount Sinai, and saw 
the God of Israel, they did eat and drink. 
Those who forsook the Law (the Thora) 
were to be punished with all evil things, 
of which hunger and thirst were the most 
terrible, that they might perish in their 
wickedness. " Therefore shalt thou serve 
thine enemies which the Lord shall send 
against thee, in hunger and in thirst, and in 
nakedness, and in want of all things ; " and 
the commentators add, if you will keep the 



406 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Law, the Lord will remove all the curses, and 
give you " plenty to eat and to drink. " 
The Such notions have by degrees developed in 

e f ect -h ^e J ews ? notwithstanding their religious- 
notions ness and the more exalted striving of their 
on the Prophets, a low and mean spirit of sordid 

formation £ > . r 

of the egotism oi the very worst kind — a religious 
cwter. egotism, based on eating, drinking, and 
worldly happiness. The Pharisees abhorred 
communion with other nations; they re- 
mained secluded first as members of a chosen 
people, and next as followers of their own 
chosen sect. The Lord of the fruitful soil 
was their special God, and the firstborn 
were His priests, and this position the Phari- 
a nation sees arrogated to themselves. " And ye shall 
of priests, -j^ un i me a kingdom of priests and an holy 

nation" (Exod. xix. 6). Every Jew con- 
sidered himself a holy particle of a holy 
whole. The more historians study the prin- 
ciples of the different sects of the Jews, the 
more will they be able to understand the 
pride, intolerance, and inconceivable arro- 
gance of the Christian priesthood at a later 
period, when Judaism and Romanism were 
adopted as the foundation of Christianity. 
The The Sadducees (meaning the "just peo- 

sadduceea p] e "^ the next in importance of the Jewish 
tenets. sects, were the broad-minded free-thinkers, 
the followers of Zadak, who lived in the 
fourth century B.C. The Pharisees, in the 
bitterness of their sectarian hearts, accused 
them of atheism, because they did not think 
all the ceremonial observances necessary to 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 407 

the acquisition of earthly goods and long 
life. The Sadducees also took the Scriptures 
to the letter, but read them differently. 
They rejected all artificial explanations, and 
studied the prophets far more diligently than 
the dubious oral commentaries on the laws 
of Moses, the unintelligible " Talmud," and 
the still more unintelligible " Cabala " (the 
mysterious science of sacred traditions). They 
did not despise feasts, but at the same time 
remembered the words of Javeh, communi- 
cated through the prophet, Amos : u I hate, The 
I despise your feast days, and I will not ^ r ^ t et 
smell in your solemn assemblies. Though 
ye offer me burnt offerings, and your meat 
offerings, I will not accept them ; neither 
will I regard the peace offerings of your fat 
beasts. Take thou away from me the noise 
of thy songs ; for I will not hear the 
melody of thy viols. But let judgment 
run down as waters, and righteousness 
as a mighty stream" (Amos v. 21 — 24). 
Justice and good actions were, with the 
Sadducees, of greater importance than offer- 
ings, and sacrifices, and singing. They 
had a supreme contempt for all those who 
occupied their minds continually with mys- 
terious benedictions, sanctifications, days of 
atonement, fasting and feasting, leavened or 
unleavened bread, palm branches, trumpets, 
sacred vessels, offerings, defiled or undefiled 
gifts, trespasses, red cows, and dead bodies ; 
but who neglected doing good to their fellow 
creatures. The Sadducees believed neither 



408 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

in the immortality of the soul, nor in punish- 
ment or reward after death. They denied 
the existence of angels and devils, although 
they thoroughly believed in the Scriptures. 
They were notorious for their virtue, honesty, 
tolerance, learning, and, above all, for their 

Caraites. justice and humanity. The " Caraites " (he 
who reads ; the scripture readers), some- 
times also called Heretics, formed, with 

Herodians. the " Herodians," special sects amongst the 
Sadducees; the latter were founded by a 
certain Manaen, under the Tetrach Herod 
(Acts xiii. 1). The Sadducees hoped for a 
Messiah, but not in the sense of the Phari- 
sees. They did not look for a sanguinary 
conqueror, to trample under foot all the other 
nations of the earth, as a sacrifice in honour 
of the Lord. They held to the dictates of 

The Javeh, through the prophet Hosea : " For I 

Hosea! desired mercy, and not sacrifice, and the 
knowledge of God more than burnt offer- 
ings" (Hosea vi. 6). Controversial matter 
abounds in every chapter, verse, line, and 
often in single words of the Jewish Scrip- 
tures. This is the principal cause to which 
we must trace the fact that they stimulated 
man's dynamic force into working activity 
with irresistible power. The "Law" formed 
the static, unchangeable, moral part; the 
Prophets already represented the dynamic, 
ever varying, intellectual power in man. 
They strove to bring life and motion into 
the stagnating national body, which was 
deadened by a one-sided culture, in the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 409 

shape of outward religious formalities and 
ceremonies. The prophet Micah asks : T r ^ e het 
" Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, Micah. 
and bow myself before the high God ? Shall 
I come before Him with burnt offerings, 
with calves of a year old ? Will the Lord 
be pleased with thousands of rams, or with 
ten thousands of rivers of oil ? Shall I give 
my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit 
of my body for the sin of my soul ? He hath 
showed thee, man, what is good ; and 
what does the Lord require of thee, but to 
do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk 
humbly with thy God?" (Micah vi. 6 — 8). 
The moral laws, that ought to rule men, were 
expressed in broad outlines in perfect analogy 
with the laws of other nations ; but they 
were not given in a dry and mathematical 
form, and they could be discussed. When, 
therefore, the Jewish Scriptures became more 
generally known through the Greek trans- 
lation, " The Septuagint," they suddenly £^ e 
aroused an unparalleled intellectual activity g i n t." Ua 
in the learned of all nations, who specially 
congregated in Alexandria. History and re- History 
ligion were, in these Scriptures, so closely ^™ ed 
interwoven, that the study of History be- religion. 
came a religious duty. Students and writers 
of History will, however, at once perceive 
the terrible, and even yet scarcely sur- 
mounted, difficulties which were thus placed 
in the way of a scientific treatment of His- 
tory. The past was to be taken on faith; 
the assertions of the Hebrew prophets were 



410 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

"Faith," not to be doubted ; everything was to be de- 
fe dge? 0W " °ided by some scriptural passage ; inquiry and 
required, scepticism were to vanish from the world ; 
the classic writers were set down as liars, for 
they had not known the true God, who had 
revealed Himself exclusively to the Jews. 
Assump. An infinite number of lying spirits were 
tionof assumed to have deluded Humanity. The 
spirits. glorious works of art, sculpture, architecture, 
poetry, and philosophy of all the other nu- 
merous nations of the earth were suddenly 
looked down upon as the outgrowths of sin 
inherited from Adam. The Persian, Assyrian, 
and Babylonian Empires had been swept 
away for their idolatry, and Egypt for her 
wicked unbelief- The Greeks had been taught 
by Satan, or some other diabolical spirit, to 
build up lofty systems of philosophy, and to 
chisel voluptuous gods and goddesses, to ex- 
cite men to sin and licentiousness ; and they 
perished. The sublime Vedas of the Indians, 
their gorgeous epic poems; the admirable 
rock-hewn temples of the Buddhists; the pure 
moral teachings of Confucius; the mighty 
victories of the Romans, their patriotism ; all 
the monuments of antiquity; all the histori- 
cal writings and records of all nations, were 
superseded as false and untrue, and the Jew- 
ish records placed above them, as the only 
true revealed Word of God, who had forsaken 
and abandoned all His other creatures, and 
exclusively held communication with the 
Grandeur Jews. The insolent imposition was gigantic, 
tion. mp ° and became day by day more powerful. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 411 

There was something wonderfully majestic 
in this systematic delusion of Humanity. 

This moyement was increased by mysti- 
cism and asceticism. The representatives of 
this strange element were the Essenes, from The 
the Hebrew "Asa," or the Chaldsean "Asaya" Essene8 ' 
(to heal); or, according to others, meaning 
"the retired." The sect had already been 
in existence under Alexander the Great. Its 
members lived a solitary life ; they devoted 
themselves to the study of medicine, the art 
of working miracles, and to predicting the 
future. The most remarkable feature in their 
dogmas was the miraculous efficacy which they 
attributed to water. Baptism was practised 
by them. In conformity with the tenets of 
the ancient Indians and Egyptians, "water 
was the mysterious life-giving element. Water 
was the essence of life when the earth was 
still barren and uninhabited." Water was 
considered by the Essenes as the fountain of 
regeneration, the symbol of life ; man to be 
good and free from sin was to be born anew 
of water. Water mystically washed away the 
sins of the world. Water made the Essenes, 
like the Indians, twice born. John the Baptist 
and Christ were both Essenes, and were bap- 
tized. The Essenes, in opposition to the 
licentious and debauched Romans, preached 
and practised abstinence and chastity. The 
Ebionites and Therapeutics were two other Ebionites 
sects of the Essenes, who, in lonely places, **? d 
devoted themselves, like the Brahmanic or peutics. 
Buddhistic saints, to a silent contemplation 



412 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



These 
sects 
not men- 
tioned in 
the 
oldest 
records of 
Chris- 
tianity. 



The 

Sama- 
ritans. 



Descrip- 
tion of the 
social 



of the transitoriness of human life. These 
sects are not mentioned in the oldest records 
of Christianity, probably because their tenets 
and dogmas were so lavishly made use of by 
the Christians. They all strove to free the 
soul from its fetters, the body — an idea which 
we may trace to the Egyptian worshippers 
of Osiris, and in a still clearer form to the 
teachings of Buddha. Some of these Sec- 
tarians lived exclusively to religion and in- 
tuition; others did not despise tilling the 
soil, or following some peaceful trade; these 
latter undoubtedly had a marked influence 
on the poorer classes of their times. 

As a fourth sect of great importance, we 
must mention the Samaritans, though they 
were repudiated by the more orthodox Jews 
on account of their intercourse with heathens. 
They increased the hatred against themselves, 
by constructing a temple of their own on 
Mount Gerizim, at the time of the re-building 
of the temple of Solomon by the Jews, on 
their return from the Babylonish Captivity. 
To do good to a Samaritan was considered 
an abominable crime by the Jews, and gave 
Jesus of Nazareth many an opportunity of 
rebuking the intolerant spirit of the chosen 
people of God, who were narrow-minded 
enough to believe that man is only then 
religious, when he hates, abuses, and curses 
all those who are not members of his own 
sect. 

At this time false prophets abounded 
throughout the Asiatic Provinces of the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 413 

Roman Empire ; Greek mock philosophers condition 
discussed the most abstruse spiritual pro- ? fnum fi- 
blems in the market-places; Egyptian priests birth of 6 
of Osiris, Isis, and Horus divulged the un- ^ esus of , 
intelligible symbolisms of their ancient creed; 
and the Persian worship of Mithras (mean- 
ing the Redeemer or Intermediator) was 
revived with all its deep mysticism. Roman 
legal casuists abounded, searching for law- 
suits, discussing everything, and knowing 
very little. The Jewish sects, in spite of 
their dissensions and mutual hatred, were 
all equally oppressed and plundered by 
Herod the Great ; and superstition, cre- 
dulity and ignorance were the distinguish- 
ing features of the Roman world. Brahman 
fanatics and Buddhistic ascetics mingled the 
teachings of Kapila with those of Plato ; intermix- 
the scepticism of the Nyaya system of rea- ]£^ d ° f nd 
soiling was compared with the teachings ofphtto- 
Pythagoras and Aristotle ; the principles of Jy^*^ 
the Vaiseshika philosophy of Kanada were 
contrasted with those of the Jewish prophets. 
The East was crowded with dreamers, 
visionaries, traders in charms, augurs, horo- 
scopists, miracle workers (Thaumathurgi), 
soothsayers, cabalists, and priests of all 
sorts of gods and goddesses. The Roman 
Emperor, Augustus, had secured peace to 
the vast Empire, and allowed any dis- 
cussions on " supernatural matters " so long 
as they did not touch his " temporal " 
power, when Jesus of Nazareth, the hoped- Jesus of 
for Messiah (in Greek " Christ," meaning Narazeth - 



414 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

the Anointed) was born. We have very 
little reliable historical information concern- 
ing the life of Christ. So much we know, 
that we may make of Christ what we please ; 
we may comment upon His recorded teach- 
ings exegetically or in any other form. We 
may altogether deny the whole later eccle- 
siastical structure, built upon His sayings. 
We may demonstrate that all that was as- 
serted of Him was also believed of Melchi- 
sedech, Krishna, Osiris, Buddha, Apollo, or 
Mithras. We may trace in Him, and to 
Him, all the legends of divine incarnations 
through which man, having become con- 
scious, wished to find an explanation of his 
low animal desires and the lofty intellectual 
longings of his mind, thus working out 
divine models of human beings, or gods in 
human form. We may study the Gospels 
and their contradictory views; and critically 
wade through the still more contradictory 
writings of the Fathers. We may show 
how dogma after dogma was attributed to 
Christ which He neither enunciated, nor ever 
could have thought of, because whatever 
contradictions may be recorded of Him, 
there was no contradiction between His teach- 
ings and His own self-sacrificing life. We 
may prove how the councils of the Church 
changed the true doctrine of Christ, and 
reject the dictates of certain synods, and 
accept others. We may be Episcopalians 
or Methodists, Presbyterians or Roman 
Catholics, Lutherans or Quakers, Dissenters 



THE SCIENCE OP HISTORY. 415 

or Shakers, Idealists or Realists, Believers 
or Unbelievers; we may quarrel and hate 
one another with the same fervour as did 
the Jewish sects, and curse every one who 
does not hold our own opinions as to the 
colour of the beatitude, the length of the 
wings of the angels in heaven, or the horns 
of the devils in hell. We may laugh at our 
petty controversialists, who talk on vest- 
ments, candlesticks, crosses, rubrics, grace, 
transubstantiation, real or unreal presence, 
and the thousand and one unintelligible, 
anagogetical, parabolical, allegorical, and 
symbolic niceties and difficulties, which may 
all be easily settled if any one has faith and does 
not me his thinking and reasoning faculty, the 
brightest gift of the Creator, by whatever 
name He be known ; but we cannot deny the 
immense influence which Christ's teachings 
have exercised on the Western mind. Let all 
the circumstances and details have been what How 
they may, Historians must deal with Christ's historians 
Spirit as it presented itself, as one of the treat 
greatest of historical phenomena. For though ^^ 
we may divest Christ of all the miracles, idm 
rightly or falsely attributed to him, we can- 
not divest Him of one grand indisputable 
fact, that He died out of Love, murdered by 
those whom He taught, with a heart full of 
universal Love, that the whole of humanity Universal 
was one great brotherhood ; that every ^nce of 
human being was the cherished child of one chris- 
Father, who loved all His children equally, Uimt ?- 
and who was in heaven. 



416 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

■ 

Effects, if Had this simple doctrine of Christ been- 
teachin s taught with the same zeal for the last 1,879 
had been years, as the mystic dogmas with which His 
thei? din teachings were perverted, and which were 
simplicity, borrowed from Egyptian, Assyrian, Persian, 
Indian, Greek and Roman priests, the world 
would undoubtedly be more Christian, and 
Humanity would have saved, millions of 
precious lives and vast treasures which have 
been wasted on the " propagation of stu- 
pidity." There would not be one poor man, 
or one savage, on the surface of the earth, if 
the early Christians had been able thoroughly 
to understand Christ's Christianity. But 
this very fact proves, more incontrovertibly 
than anything ever propounded, the correct- 
ness of our theory, that there are forces 
working in the phenomena of History, the 
effects of which are the necessary results of 
causes which we must study, and that we be- 
come masters of our destiny through science 
alone. Humanity was not yet ripe to under- 
stand the mighty and divine simplicity of 
the universal cosmical law of love or attrac- 
tion, cohesion or harmony, transferred from 
the material to the spiritual world. Hu- 
manity, at the time of Christ, could not com- 
prehend that our moral laws are as simple as 
the eternal laws of the Cosmos; and what 
was universal was therefore encased in little 
sectarian oyster shells, labelled with a variety 
of special names ; each religious or national 
oyster asserting its own superiority over all 
the others. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 417 

The Jews converted to Christianity made Christ ' s 
Christ descend from the Royal David, and oHhe 
saw in Him the fulfilment of prophecies that Deit y m 

., ill in i opposition 

might, it read backwards, as well apply to that of 
to Confucius, Buddha, Osiris or Krishna. theJews - 
They could not see or grasp the abolition of 
the Old Covenant, and the totally different 
conception of the Deity in Christ's teachings. 
The Deity, with the Jews, was a stern re- 
vengeful Despot ; with Christ he was a loving 
Father. The beginning of wisdom with the 
Jews was Fear ; with Christ the beginning of 
wisdom was Love. With the Jews God was God with 
a God of wrath, persecution and slaughter ; the Jevrs - 
with Christ a God of mercy, forgiveness and 
boundless love. The God of the Jews, who, 
like the inexorable Fate of the Greeks, or 
the sanguinary Monsters enthroned in the 
Imperial purple of Rome, punished the sins 
of the fathers unto the third and fourth 
generation, and demanded holocausts of 
murdered sacrifices, was changed by Christ 
into a God of infinite kindness, rejoicing 
over one sinner that repenteth more than 
over ninety and nine just persons ! 

With regard to the ethical or moral and The 
ceremonial enactments, the teachings of Christ ^or!d ami 
were not less completely subversive of the ceremonial 
order and mode of thinking of the ancient m ents~of 
world. " Blessed are the pure in heart," pro- Christ. 
claimed Christ; this did not exclude the wise 
in intellect, and the learned in science, as the 
distorters of Christ's teachings have wrongly 
asserted for more than a thousand years. 

2 E 



418 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



No statues, 
no altars, 

BO 

temples. 



Any good 
man a 
Christian. 



Christ's 
f unda - 
mental 
doctrine. 



The pure heart became with Christ the altar, 
and the only temple of God. God was no 
more exceptionally present in a statue of 
marble or bronze, a tope, a pagoda, a shrine, 
or a burning bush, in lightning and thunder, 
or in the Holy of Holies, the Ark of the Cove- 
nant, or in the sun, the moon, and the seven 
stars; but he was present in every man's pure 
heart, whether the man was black, yellow, 
or white ; whether he was a heathen, or one 
of the chosen people ; whether old or 
young, beautiful or ugly, learned or igno- 
rant, wealthy or poor, mighty or weak ! 
Any man doing good, loving his neighbour, 
devoting himself to the welfare of his fellow 
creatures, was a brother and a true Christian. 
For Christ repudiated all local Gods. He 
did not command the sacrifice or worship of 
any animals, plants, or of Himself in the 
form of consecrated wafers. He did not pre- 
scribe any diet, fasting or feasting. He did 
not command wars, did not excite a chosen 
people to the extirpation of whole races or 
nations, with the exception of the Virgins ; 
did not encourage sanguinary triumphs over 
fallen enemies. Christ's God did not promise 
plenty on earth to bribe men to goodness; 
or threaten them with eternal hell fire to 
frighten them into obedience. Christ's doc- 
trine, in its primitive purity, was the ever true 
moral Law of Peace, Love and Tolerance. 
This is the fundamental element of Chris- 
tianity, towards which, freed of all dogmatic 
nonsense, Humanity is striving, consciously 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 419 

or unconsciously, in spite of the thousands 
and thousands of sects, and the millions of 
commentators that have endeavoured, with all 
their combined intellectual might, to destroy 
the simplicity and universality of Christ's 
enactments. 

Nowhere are such exalted and liberal teach- The 
ings found as in Christ's scantily-recorded ™™ar" 
utterances. Everything that had been re- element in 
spected in the vast Roman Empire — wealth, teachings, 
power, and honours — was treated with philoso- 
phical contempt, and as worthy of no regard. 
Learning, if not leading to goodness, was 
held in no esteem ; but learning, confuting 
the obstinacy of the Pharisees, Scribes, and 
the Learned in the Scriptures, was practised 
by Christ Himself, when a child, to the con- 
fusion and total defeat of the hypocrites and 
self-constituted authorities in matters of 
faith. This produced that indescribable rage 
in the Scribes and the Learned in the Scrip- 
tures, which has led them, from that time 
down to our own days, to scorn learning and 
extol faith; to mock science, and insist on 
thoughtless submission. Under this curse 
the Reformers of all times have had to suffer 
persecutions, torments, and even death. But 
in Christ they had the most glorious exam- 
ple of how to endure and how to act. Christ 
died in divine grandeur, with a prayer for 
His persecutors on His lips. Now, all those 
who, as Gloethe says — 

" Out of their heart's fulness needs must speak, 
And show their thoughts and feelings to the masses," 

2 e 2 



420 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Reason, 
Science, 
and Truth 
cannot be 
silenced. 



The 

causes of 
the spread 
of Chris- 
tianity. 



could better bear their sad fate ; for they 
had one to look to, who was purer and greater, 
and whose death they could joyfully share, 
undismayed by crucifixion or burning. As 
little as it was possible to stamp out Chris- 
tianity at a period, when it was the uncon- 
scious effort of humanity to readjust the lost 
balance between morals and intellect, on the 
side of morals ; so little could Christianity, 
once in power, stop the attempt, on the side 
of intellect \ to bring about a readjustment of 
that very balance which degenerated Chris- 
tianity, in its turn, had utterly disturbed. 
Reason cannot be stifled by persecution ; 
Science cannot be annihilated by supersti- 
tion ; Truth cannot be silenced by blind 
fanaticism. Christianity, as the great move- 
ment of reformation, taught humanity this 
lesson; humanity profited by it, and the 
stagnating, stationary spirit of Orientalism 
was for ever destroyed, at least in prin- 
ciple. Christianity brought new life into 
the ancient Oriental and Classical World. 

So long as Christianity had no material 
support from the State, it spread through 
love and persuasion, in spite of competing 
miracle workers, in spite of treachery, de- 
ceit, and innumerable incredibilities that 
hindered, and still hinder, its progress 
amongst the educated, thinking and reason- 
ing classes of any nation. 

The principal historical causes of the 
quick spread of Christianity will be found 
to have been the following : — 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 421 

1. The extent of the Roman Empire, 1. Extent 
throughout which two principal languages ^ f ^ n 
were spoken — Latin amongst the masses, Empire. 
and Greek amongst the educated, and the 
people in Asia Minor and Alexandria. 

2. The scattering* of the Jews and the Jew- ?■ Scatter - 

© mg oi 

ish Christians over the Western world. The Jews and 
Jews were born theologians ; they were per- c^Sians. 
feet masters in arguing and cavilling, in 
sifting and distorting words and their mean- 
ings. The Apostle (messenger) St. Paul 
tried to purify Christianity of its Jewish 
elements, but succeeded only very partially. 
The classical (Greek) element which he in- 
troduced into Christianity affected only the 
better educated classes, whilst the people 
were more attracted by the democratic spirit 
of Judaism. The Jews never bent willingly 
to any earthly power, but crouched in awe 
and fear before an invisible Despot. Histo- 
rians will perceive, in tracing the different 
phases through which Christianity had to 
pass, that some of the most subversive and 
implacable, but at the same time most liberal 
and democratic, sects were formed, with the 
aid of quotations from the Old Testament. 
Dissenters, Methodists, Nonconformists, Pu- 
ritans, Anabaptists, Calvinists, and Mormons 
continually quote the Hebrews, and very 
rarely refer to the " Sermon on the Mount " 
of the New Testament, which they still more 
completely ignore in practice. 

3. The general tendency to mysticism, 3 - The 
fanaticism and symbolism, and the total ab- s 



422 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

tendency se nce of a correct knowledge of the cosmical 
cism. Laws. With the Greeks and Romans, the 
different phenomena of Nature were so many 
divine personifications of her forces ; all these 
personifications vanished before the great 
mysterious Incarnation of Christ. The be- 
nevolent phenomena of Nature were turned 
into God's blessings, whilst the terrifying and 
obnoxious became the frightful doings of the 
Devil, with his tens of thousands of willing 
servants. The Universe, as with the ancient 
Persians, was again divided into a kingdom 
of light and a kingdom of darkness, under two 
eternally battling powers, God and Satan. 
The poor thought all the rich possessed by 
Satan, and the rich looked down upon the poor 
as wicked and accursed wretches, who must 
have done some wrong, as otherwise God 
would have blessed them with earthly goods 
and plenty in this life. Both could find sacred 
texts for their peculiar notions, and were thus 
enabled to bear their poverty or their riches. 
4. The 4. The immense number of freedmen, 

n^mbeTof slaves, and beggars ; the rich terrified by the 
poor and hungry and haggard looks of the people, and 
enervated by profligacy and licentiousness. To 
such people equality was preached, equality 
before a God, in whose eyes the living, visible 
god on earth, the Emperor, was no more than 
the lowest beggar. The poor grew proud, and 
condescended to admit the rich into their, 
now blessed community, and the rich were 
delighted to be made partakers of a future 
kingdom of bliss, not feeling very safe on 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 423 

earth, equally trembling before the covetous- 
ness of the tyrants in power, and the daily 
increasing number of homeless slaves. At 
the first period of the foundation of Chris- 
tianity, the care for the sick and poor formed 
one of the most important emotional elements 
in the propagation of the new faith. Widows 
and orphans, generally robbed and plundered 
under the Emperors, were now looked upon 
as a sacred trust, and taken care of by the 
community. Hospitals were founded, and Hospitals 
Xenodochia (homes for travellers) established, xeno- 
Charity and Chastity became distinguishing dochia » 
features of the Christians, who spread over 
the whole Roman Empire. Letters of recom- 
mendation were issued to the faithful, whether 
poor or rich, if they were only virtuous and 
pious. These letters proved highly beneficial ; 
for by this means the Christians fostered 
a kind of universal brotherhood, and kept 
themselves constantly well informed of every- 
thing that happened in the vast Roman 
Empire, and even beyond its frontiers. A 
powerful religious net was thus spread, and 
the then despairing world was slowly caught 
in its dogmatic meshes. 

5. The decline of faith and trust in the 5. The 
old gods of the classical world, who were S^^ 
now proved to have been mere idols of stone the old 
or brass, as otherwise they could not have G ^ Si en 
permitted humanity to sink to such a degree 
of immorality as under the Emperors. Men's 
lives had no value; justice was nowhere to 
be found. Who was any longer to believe in 



424 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Aphrodite;, the goddess of love, or in a Jupiter? 
The god Mars had alone his faithful votaries 
in the unruly Praetorians and Soldiers, for he 
helped the strongest body of troops ; and they 
could do anything they liked with the poor 
and the rich. 
6. The 6. The sanguinary political and religious 

p^ U cu- ary persecutions which the Emperors repeatedly 
tionsof ordered against the ever-increasing Chris- 
Chris! tians. Historians, in dealing with these 
tians. persecutions, rnust well distinguish between 
ecclesiastical and independent writers. Or- 
thodox authors describe the Romans as in- 
tolerant. They bring the persecutions of the 
Christians under ten headings, so as to make 
them typically agree with the ten plagues of 
Egypt. The fact is, as we have already 
pointed out, that most of these persecutions 
with the Romans were political. Some san- 
guinary outbursts of Jewish rage against the 
Christians were attributed to the Romans, 
who tried to make peace between the quar- 
relling sects, and punished them both with 
equal severity. The Greeks and Romans 
General were in general extremely tolerant in re- 
toierance ligious matters. They either had a per- 
Greeksand sonal or political interest in persecuting 
Romans, some single individual, and used the religious 
fanaticism of the mob as a means to attain 
their special object. They never had clergy- 
men, in our sense of the word, or so-called 
learned men by trade — two classes which are 
unfortunately implacable in their persecution 
of any one, who is not of their opinion. These 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 425 

classes never enjoyed that influence amongst 
the Romans which they possess even now 
in the north-western part of Europe. The Christian- 
Christians began slowly to find iavour at favour at 
Court. They by degrees proved that they the Roman 
did not hold all the opinions of the ancient 
Jews, who would not recognize any other 
authority but that of Javeh ; they humbly re- 
ferred to Christ's command, "Render there- 
fore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's ; 
and unto God the things that are God's ; " 
and the new religion was at last introduced at 
Court under the Emperor Alexander Severus, Alexander 
who was favourable to some of its doctrines, Severus 
whilst his mother, Mammsea, was said to have m£ea his " 
been a true Christian. Decius once more motner - 
tried to stamp out the Christians. Under 
Gallienus they enjoyed peace, and the last 
vain attempts to abolish Christianity by means 
of sanguinary persecutions were made under 
the Emperor Diocletian. 

Cruelty at first served to develop the whole 
vitality of the Christians, but certain causes 
were at work which altogether changed, if 
not the essence, at least the form of Chris- Eastern in 
tianity. The chief of these causes is to be Jj^nJ!J . 
found in some commotions that occurred in tianity. 
the provinces, situated between China and the 
Caspian Sea, which were conquered about the 
first century of the Christian era, "It appears 
that, in consequence of these convulsions, the 
Samaiiseans, disciples of Buddha, who prob- 
ably lived about the time of the fall of the 
Israelitish kingdom of the Ten Tribes, de- 



426 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

parted from their former seat, the ancient 
Aria, and took refuge in the mountains of 
Cashmire and Thibet, and, descending into 
the fertile plains of India, reached Ceylon, 
and traversed the sea to Siam, whence they 
extended their progress to China and Japan." 
It would be of the utmost interest if these 
facts, as also the time in which they 
happened, could be verified by Japanese 
andChrist. scn °l ars - That Buddha's tenets bear, in 
many of their details, the greatest resem- 
blance to Christianity cannot be denied, but 
this is equally true of the teachings of Con- 
fucius, the doctrines of Sokrates, and in fact, 
in one form or another, of all the teachings 
The of wise and virtuous men. " The chief doc- 

Bonzes? an trine of the Samansean Bonzes was that 
Buddha, worthy of receiving adoration as 
next in dignity to God, had come among 
men in order to publish the doctrine of the 
transmigration of souls.'- This is the belief 
of one sect only amongst the Buddhists, and 
Buddhism has this in common with Chris- 
tianity that it is divided into many sects. 
On the other hand, these sects, though of 
different opinions, have never persecuted 
each other with the inexorable ferocity which 
Difference has distinguished the Christians. This dis- 
ChrTs- en tinctly shows the character of the two Re- 
B a ddv and ^§i° ns ? the one "being passive contemplation, 
the other positive activity. The one remained 
stationary, the other progressively developed, 
and is still developing. It cannot be doubted 
that many of the dispersed teachers of Budd- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 427 

hism must have come from the East, and 
settled in the western provinces of Asia, 
where the Christian religion was then re- 
ceiving its first development, and their doc- 
trines must have been used, like so many 
other Egyptian mysteries, and Greek and 
Roman ceremonies. 

Scarcely had Christ expired on the Cross Hopeless 
when a host of pious forgers inundated the first 
world with descriptions and details of his ^j^ 
private and public life. One of the Evange- tianity. 
lists — St. Luke — informs us " that many 
have taken in hand to set forth those things 
which are most surely believed among us' 
(c. i. v. 1), and notwithstanding the fact that 
two Gospels had already been written by 
St. Mark and St. Matthew; Ambrosius, The- 
ophilates, and other learned commentators, 
assure us that St. Luke only undertook 
to write his Gospel in order to counteract 
the great number of false Gospels, which St. 
Jerome finds too long to enumerate (ennu- 
merare longissimum est). Origen, Ambrosius, Number of 
Jerome and other early Christian writers Actsfand 
mention about fifty Gospels ; according to Reveia- 
others there were seventy; with the Acts and 
Revelations there were about 146 independent 
sacred writings, of which the earliest was 
written about 60 a.d. There were Gospels 
of St. Barnabas, St. Andrew, St. Mathias, 
St. Peter, and St. James, the Younger. Be- 
sides these, the Gospels of the Egyptians, 
the Hebrews, the Nazarenes, and a Gospel 
of " Truth," all contradicting one another, all 



428 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

relating different facts, some of them silent 

with reference to important incidents, promi- 

Forgeries nently narrated by others. The number of 

and inter- n * / . . i , • • n 

poiations. forgeries, interpolations, omissions, fictions, 
exaggerations, and different interpretations 
was so great, that it is wholly impossible to 
gather any reliable evidence as to the true 
historical facts, bearing on the state of the 
primitive Christians. Letters were forged, 
and attributed to the Virgin Mary; others 
Pilate 18 ^° Christ. Tertullian mentions that Pontius 
and the Pilate sent the minutes of the trial of Jesus of 
oft!he U triai Nazareth, or Bethlehem, to the Emperor Ti- 
of Jesus of berius, who was so struck with the innocence 
Nazareth. Q £ Q^rist that he ordered the Senate to pay 
divine honours to His memory, which they 
refused, not having been directly asked by 
those concerned in the matter. This asser- 
tion, which on the face of it was entirely 
false, enticed many pious forgers to write 
reports in the name of Pilate, pretending to 
give the real and only true account of Christ's 
last sayings and doings, when led to ex ecu- 
Gregory of tion. Gregory of Tours, in the sixth cen- 
tury a.d., firmly believed that he possessed 
the authenticated account of the miracles at 
the death and resurrection of Christ, just as 
Pilate had sent it to Tiberius. 

Lucian (see p. 384) already bitterly com- 
plained in the latter half of the second 
century after the birth of Christ, that the 
Christians, who were then dispersed over 
several provinces of the Roman Empire, 
and particularly numerous in Asia, Syria, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 429 

and Egypt, were so very reserved respecting 
their mysteries. Tacitus, Pliny, Lucian, and Tr *dein 
others could not understand why truth should becomes™ 
be proclaimed by miracle- workers, magicians, P rofitable - 
sorcerers, and necromancers, who drove a 
very profitable trade in mysticism. This 
went so far " that whenever any cunning 
impostor applied to the believers, who under- 
stood the proper tricks, he found it an easy 
matter to lead these simple people by the 
nose, and very soon to become a rich man 
at their expense." The primitive simplicity, 
which characterised the first followers of 
Christ, was gone, and a multitude of half- 
Jewish and half- heathenish enthusiasts, 
visionaries, theosophists, snake-charmers, 
sieve-turners and adepts, abounded in the 
Christian communities, or used the name of 
Christians, and so brought into contempt a 
religion that was gradually largely alloyed 
with impurity. Another curse of Chris- 
tianity was, that it never ceased to be more 
or less a kind of secret society, and had all 
the powers, but at the same time all the 
shortcomings of a mystic, concealed associa- 
tion, whose members, afraid of oppression 
and persecution — however heroically they 
may have met death, if found out — must have 
always had something to hide or to disguise. 
All mystery-mongers are naturally to be dis- 
tinguished by some outward forms. There 
were so many incomprehensible secrets, 
which must have weighed on the minds of 
Christians, that it is altogether astonishing 



430 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

that they should have found time to take 

up any other occupation in life, and that 

they should have managed to carry on their 

fierce and endless controversies. 

Constan- With Constantine the Great some kind of 

Great e harmony was brought into the discordant 

brought spiritual life of the believing Christians, but 

btothe 7 the whole organization was changed. The 

discordant persecuted became the persecutors. The 

Christian a . ,. , , . x . . - , 

religion, mystics proclaimed their mysteries m broad 
daylight. All those who dared to have an 
opinion of their own on any disputed ques- 
tions, were branded as heretics, and, whilst 
the Christians, in devotion to their faith, had 
extolled all those as martyrs and saints who 
died for it with fortitude and resignation ; the 
heretics who in their turn did the same, 
were considered obstinate sinners, obdurate 
wretches, possessed by the devil of pride and 
self-glorification. These heretics were secta- 
rians that pretended to have received certain 
traditions from the founder of Christianity 
Himself, or at least from prophets, apostles, 
or pious men who had stood near to Christ, 
and yet their dogmas were branded as 
heresies by the later councils and synods. 
The most powerful and learned amongst 
The these sects were the Gnostics. Divided into 

Gnostics, various schools, they, by some means, had 
become acquainted with the Y-King of Con- 
fucius, or rather with the " Tchong-Yong," 
the celebrated commentaries on Confucius by 
Tse-sse, in which, without straining the text 
at all, we may say, that the fundamental 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 431 

theological principles of the Gnostics and 
later Christians are contained, with the excep- 
tion of the doctrine of the " origin of evil," 
which was borrowed from the Persians and 
Indians. The founders of this sect taught con- 
tempt of life and suicide. They had their origin 
in those regions of the earth, where religious 
enthusiasts were ready to burn themselves 
alive. The Gnostics, who, like the Brahmans 
and Buddhistic priests, looked upon this life 
as a mere state of transition to a better exis- 
tence, were the prototypes of the later mar- 
tyrs. They courted annihilation, and sought 
death without ostentation, like Kalanus, or 
rather Sphines, the Indian sage, as reported 
by Onesikritus, who was an eye-witness of 
this philosopher's heroic, or foolish, deed of 
self-destruction. Sphines did not jump into 
the flames, but, when the pile began to kindle, 
stood motionless close to it, suffering himself 
for awhile to be scorched, then quietly placed 
himself upon it, and was consumed to ashes 
without uttering a cry, or changing his pos- 
ture for a moment. (Plutarch, in his " Life 
of Alexander the Great," gives the same de- 
scription, and adds, ' i according to the custom 
of the sages of his country.") These sages, 
since Alexander had invaded India, and es- 
tablished a communication between the Cis- 
and Trans-Himalayans, were everywhere 
founding sects and schools, and teaching 
dreamy vagaries, which, by their very 
incredibility and incoherence, attracted the 
greatest numbers of believers. ' ' The Gnostics 



432 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Cosmo- assumed the existence of an unfathomable 
Gnostics. 6 Abyss, or primitive night (Chaos, Tohubohu), 
from which, according to some, Time, accord- 
ing to others, Wisdom, produced evolutions, 
or iEons, of which each had a peculiar charac- 
ter. After a space of time had elapsed, of 
which no other computation could be given 
but the greater or lesser number of evolu- 
tions, believed in by different sects, the con- 
fluence of elements, or the rushing together 
of the chaotic parts, developed Intellect, or 
Mind ; which, being unable to find its like, 
exerted its power upon Chaos. From its 
operations the Demiurgus, or Creator of the 
world, had his origin. The latter, in order 
to obtain beings to pay him adoration, im- 
prisoned sparks of the pure ether in earthly 
bodies, and thus produced mankind. In order 
to save his work, Wisdom, the lirst of beings, 
called into existence Jesus, who had only 
the outward form or shadow of a body, and 
underwent death only in appearance, through 
a conspiracy of the priests of the Demiurgus. 
To liberate the soul from the chains of the 
body was accordingly the fundamental prin- 
ciple of the moral doctrine of the Gnostics." 
Effect of We recognize in these iEons, or evolu- 
their spe- -fcions, the four ages of the Vedas, or the four 
?.bout geological periods in the formation of the 
Mons ' earth's crust. Some of these speculations had 
undoubtedly, through their mystic charm, the 
effect of exciting men to think. The Jews, 
converted to Christianity, were horrified at 
these notions, which were as little in accord- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 433 

ance with the Books of Moses as our modern 
astronomy, zoology, geography, or geology. 
They still held firmly to their old records, 
which they tried to bring into harmony with 
their newly-embraced faith, and persecuted 
the Gnostics as heretics with the same ardour 
that they had shown in their persecution of 
Christ himself, the founder of the very religion 
which they professed, and into which they 
transplanted the fearful spirit of egotistic 
intolerance, and sanguinary hatred of all 
those who differed from them in matters of 
dogma. The great difficulty with the Gnos- 
tics was that they could not see " how the 
Word became flesh." They taught that the 
scope of humanity was to liberate the soul 
from the body, which led to suicide, as the 
shortest way to attain this aim. But this, like 
so many other distortions of their tenets, was 
but a calumnious misrepresentation. This 
objectionable method of treating adversaries 
was first introduced purposely by fanatics 
and bigots, and the falsehoods were after- 
wards repeated by unthinking writers. This 
is the reason why authors find it difficult to 
obtain any reliable documents concerning 
either the sacred or profane history of a 
period extending over nearly 1500 years. 

The works which we possess must be 
studied with a thorough knowledge of the 
peculiar notions of the sect to which the 
writer belonged. 

The Kerinthians could not see how any 
human being could be born of a virgin, thians 

2 F 



The 
Kerin- 



434 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



The 

Ebionites. 



The „ 
Karpo- 

kratians. 



The 
Cainists. 



The 
jMarcion- 

ites. 

The 
Alogians. 

The 
Mani- 
c-beans. 



They did not doubt that Joseph was the 
father of Christ, but neither believed Him to 
have been God Himself, nor credited His 
bodily ascension into heaven. We have 
pointed out that the same ascension into 
heaven was related of several other law- 
givers and heroes of Antiquity, and the 
legends may be taken as allegorical glorifi- 
cations. 

The Ebionites, a sect of the Essen£s con- 
verted to Christianity, objected to the gene- 
alogy of St. Matthew, and in accordance 
with the Gnostics asserted that Jesus was 
never incarnate, that the Jews crucified one 
Simon the Kyerenian, that Christ witnessed 
this execution, and ascended into heaven to 
join His Father, and was neither known by 
angels nor by men. 

The Kakpokratians believed in Christ as 
a superior Being, endowed with a divine 
genius, but they disbelieved in the resurrec- 
tion of the body. 

The Cainists. looked upon Judaism as full 
of- immorality, and therefore did not believe 
that Christ had come into the world to fulfil the 
Old Law, ; but, on the contrary, to abolish it. 

The Maecionites found fault with the 
contradictions contained in the Gospels, and 
strictly separated Judaism and Christianity. 

The Alogians rejected the Gospel of St. 
John as contrary to the teachings of Christ. 

The Manicheans were founded by Manes or 
Mani, a Persian priest, who believed himself 
to have been the promised " perfect teacher " 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 435 

or " Expounder," the " Paraklitos" (St. John 
xiv. 26), of Christ; he was said to have worked 
miracles, and to have received secret revela- 
tions from on high. He pretended to cure the 
sick by prayers. Called in to save the life of 
King Sapor's son, Mane's was engaged in fer- 
vent prayers when the young man died, and 
because Manes had not succeeded in effecting 
a cure he was put to death by order of the king 
(274 a.d.). He endeavoured to bring har- 
mony into the mystic theogony of the Gnos- 
tics and the teachings of Zoroaster. He 
maintained a general return to God of all 
the purified emanations of this earth, of 
which virtuous men were the most perfect. 
In accordance with some Indian philo- 
sophical schools, he did not believe in the 
annihilation of matter, assuming it to have 
been uncreated. He believed that Christ 
and the Holy Ghost were sent by God into 
the world to save Humanity from the de- 
grading yet triumphant spirit of egotism, 
embodied in Judaism and Heathenism. He 
himself and his followers led a life of great 
simplicity and ascetic self-denial. To recon- Final end 
cile the indestructibility of matter with the ^ *J® 
final triumph of Spirit, he supposed that the 
Universe would be reduced at the end of all 
things, of which the people, since the advent 
of Christ, talked and argued so much, to a 
state of eternal death. The lifeless forms of 
matter would sink into the abyss from which 
they had issued, and the souls who had 
suffered themselves to be seduced by matter 

2 p 2 



436 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

would be condemned to keep guard, motion- 
less and sad, around this dreary sepulchre. 

There is something of Dante's mighty 
poetical imagination in this comfortless 
vision. Visions, poetical though they may 
be, must always be treated as "visions" by 
Historians. Manes felt dimly the universe 
to be one harmonious whole, and his Cos- 
mogony has been concentrated in a few lines 
Goethe on ^y Goethe, in the celebrated and immortal 

Manes, J -,-, ' ,, 

poem " Jbaust : — 

" How all one whole harmonious weaves, 
Each in the other works and lives ! 
See heavenly powers ascending and descending, 
The golden buckets, one long line, extending ; 
See them with bliss-exhaling pinions winging 
Their way from heaven to earth — their singing 
Harmonious through the universe is ringing." 

The The Manicheans further assumed two con- 

Pnaiismof fljcting fundamental elements, light and 
darkness, virtue and vice, soul and body, or 
ratiier two souls, a good and an evil; the 
seat of the good was the mind, and of the 
evil the flesh. Any student of History must 
see how these notions were used by later 
Christian theologians and the Fathers; and 
yet the originator of identically the same 
ideas was condemned as a Heretic, because 
he dared to think for himself, or to express 
his ideas in forms not exactly approved of by 
the ecclesiastical authorities then in power. 
The The Montanists were founded by Monta- 

Montanists -rn • i it i i • if vi 

nus, a Phrygian, who believed himself, like 
Manes, to be the promised " Paraklitos." He 
professed Buddhistic tenets with the greatest 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 437 

vigour. u To renounce this world was," ac- 
cording* to Montanus, "the duty of every 
free Christian ; to live in Grod, and to re- 
joice in death, his only aim." He pro- 
claimed all knowledge and earthly pleasures 
sinful. His teachings were favourably re- 
ceived by the State Church, which made 
ignorance and meditations on the wickedness 
and sinfulness of the world and its tempta- 
tions the very corner-stones of its later dog- 
matic teachings. 

The Novatians were founded by Novatia- The 
nus, of Phrygia, a converted Stoic Philoso- Novatlins - 
pher, who introduced the inordinate pride, 
conceit, and pious self-satisfaction of the de- 
based and degenerated mock-Stoics into the 
Christian religion. He propounded that 
whoever had, after his baptism, committed a 
sin for which he was to be excommunicated, 
could never again be received as a member 
of a Christian community, however deep and 
sincere his repentance might be ; and this 
was taught by the professed follower of a 
Teacher who had commanded men to for- Their 
give their enemies "seventy times seven." teachings 

mi i i i • c r\\ • m contr a- 

1 o what a degree the teachings ot Christ diction 
had been changed for the worse may be seen ^"chin-s 
in this one dogma of Novatianus, whose fol- of Christ. 
lowers were excommunicated and extirpated, 
but whose unforgiving principles were acted 
upon by later Popes, Councils, and ecclesias- 
tical tribunals. 

The Samosatenians were founded by Paul g^ osa . 
of Samosata. They objected to the dogma tains. 



438 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

of a Trinity. One of their most influential 
supporters was Bishop Photinus. The alle- 
gorical explanation of the three visible phe- 
Origin of nomena in nature. Creation, Preservation, 
Trinity. anc ^ Transformation, led Indians and Egyp- 
tians to assume three Gods in one, or one 
Godhead in three elements. Brahma, Vishnu, 
Siva ; Osiris, Isis, and Horus ; Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost, were symbolic expressions 
Creator, to explain that " Creator, Creation, and 
creation Creature " are three in one and one in three. 
creature, Without Creator no act of creation would be 

three in -i 1 /-n , • i i , • , 

„ gt possible. Creation only becomes an entity 

through the Creator ; and without a creature 
creation and Creator would be non-existent. 
But the simplest notions in the hands of 
Theologians, well versed in Greek sophistry 
and Poman casuistry, became the most in- 
comprehensible difficulties that might not be 
reasoned about, but had to be simply taken 
for granted on faith, the blissful panacea 
against all doubt and inquiry. 

labiiians ^ G Sabellians were the followers of 
' Sabellius, a pious Presbyter of Ptolemy in 
Pentopolis, who recognised in God three 
distinct essences, but not persons, and looked 
upon Christ as a human being, endowed with 
divine power, but not as an incarnation of 
God Himself. 

^ t e ri The Patripassians were violent opponents 

paaei&ns of the doctriue of the Trinity. Tertullian 
wrote against them with all that deep and pro- 
found learning which characterizes writers 
and teachers when they discuss subjects 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 439 

of which they cannot possibly know any- 
thing. 

The Hermogenites asserted what is now The 
well known, that God could not have created ^te? 10 ^ 
the world out of nothing. But Hermogenes 
was no great theologian, or he would have 
known that in theology the nothing was 
something ; for it did not mean nothing, hut 
only so far nothing as it had not yet assumed 
any distinct shape or phenomenal form. The 
" Nothing theory/' in its literal meaning, 
hindered progress for a very long time ; 
but when the scholastic monks again began 
to study Greek and Latin, the intellectual 
force, set into motion by theological casuistry, 
led thinkers in modern times to a scientific 
appreciation of matter from a cosmical point 
of view. 

The Arians were the followers of Arius, The 
a most learned and pious man. The Arian Anans - 
and Athanasian controversy is, after 1300 
years of discussion, not yet settled. His- 
torians would have an ungrateful task be- 
fore them, were they to attempt honestly to 
describe the terrible effects on Humanity 
of which this abstruse dogma was the cause. 
No statistician will ever be able to tabulate 
the thousands and thousands of victims that 
have been tortured, scourged, executed, and 
burned for the sake of the small letter "I." £t t e er «i.» 
There is not one phenomenon in the world's 
history that affords so revolting an insight 
into the consequences of the misdirection of 
the moral and intellectual forces working in 



440 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Humanity as this letter "I" The Arians 
asserted that Christ, the Son of God, had 
been created before the creation of the Uni- 
verse by the free will of the Father out 
of nothing ; that Christ was therefore un- 
doubtedly the first-born of all creatures, but 
not equal to God the Father so far as eternity 
was concerned. He was " Homoiusion," but 
not " Homousion." He was like but not 
equal to Grod. He was like in essence or 
substance, but not equal in existence. On 
the other hand, their opponents, led by the 
most learned and pious Bishop Athanasius, 
Homom- asserted that Christ was " Homousion," not 
Homou- only like but equal. He was in essence, sub- 
sion. stance, and existence of the same u same- 
ness " and of one " oneness " with God the 
Father, so that Father and Son were one 
and indivisible God, yet divided into three 
Persons. Humanity was rent into two hos- 
tile camps, and the breach is not yet healed. 
East and West were thus politically and 
religiously separated, and we have still an 
Eastern and a Western Christian Church 
that cannot agree on the letter "I." The 
aim of all these mystic contentions was to 
lead mankind, by means of set and indis- 
putable dogmas, to virtue and happiness, 
but the aim can never sanctify the means. 
All man's mental and bodily energies were 
concentrated on one point, and the effect was 
stupendous, and is still felt through all the 
social layers of civilized Europe, in the form 
of sectarian superstition. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 441 

We have enumerated the most important Chris- 
Sects, to draw attention to the fact, that from ^TsM 
the very beginning, Christianity was divided the first 
into innumerable sects, which in the fourth turies C 
century were declared Infidels by the Coun- divided 
cils and Synods, and in the seventh century sects. 
a.d. altogether extirpated, root and branch, 
as Sectarians and Heretics. The Eastern 
Church, moreover, found fault with the 
Western, for the introduction of images and 
other heathenish rituals and ceremonies ; it 
cursed pictures and statues, and murdered 
and poisoned anyone suspected even of the 
slightest doubt. The Eastern Church turned 
the magnificent temples of ancient Greece 
into churches, chapels, or church-yards. The 
visible and tolerant marble gods of the an- 
cient world were hurled to the dust. In- 
stead of the artistic ideal embodiments of the 
forces of nature, real skulls and bones of 
martyrs were strewn about on altars and 
kept in shrines. All that had been con- 
sidered contemptible was suddenly venerated, 
and reason, that had ruled supreme in ancient 
philosophy, was trampled under foot, and its 
votaries treated as the very worsfc criminals 
had never been treated by the Greeks. 

From the moment that Constantine raised ^ hin 8 
Christianity into a State religion, the sub- of Jesua 
lime teachings of Christ vanished from its ^weand 
doctrines. Religion fell a prey to lying and more. 
hypocritical courtiers on the one hand, and 
to the bloodthirsty rabble on the other. 
Sanguinary hunts of heretics were instituted. 



442 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOKY. 

Meek and inoffensive philosophers or dogma- 
tists were torn to pieces by so-called Chris- 
tian believers. The learned harangues of 
the Stoics, Platonists, or Aristotleians were 
silenced, and every " shop-boy " preached 
and talked on the Trinity in Unity of God 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, 
or on the " Hypostasis," meaning the subordi- 
nate substances of the Trinity. Gregory of 
Gregory of Nazianzen says: " The city of Constanti- 
o^theste n ople is full of working men and slaves, who 
of Chris- are profound theologians, and preach in their 
Constant?- workshops and in the streets. If you want 
nopie. of anyone change for a silver coin, he in- 
forms you of the distinction between Father 
and Son ; if you ask for the price of a loaf of 
bread, you are lectured on the inferiority of 
the Son to the Father ; and if you ask 
whether the bread is baked, the rejoinder is 
that the Son was created out of nothing." 
It was a terrible state of society, in which 
religious madness swayed high and low. 
All common sense was stifled by passionate 
bigotry, leaving nothing of the ancient world 
except the gladiatorial fights. Side by side 
with the theological disputes, the city was 
divided into the no less violent factions of 
the " Blues" and " Greens," according to 
the colours in which the gladiators and 
racers appeared in the Arena or the Hippo- 
drome. The passions pro or con. ran high, 
and often led to the most sanguinary en- 
counters. Bear-bating, bull-fights, pigeon- 
shooting, horse and boat racing, appear to 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 443 

have always gone hand in hand with cant, 
hypocrisy, and mock religious professions. 

The Roman Empire was politically divided 
by Theodosius between his two sons. Arca- ^ he .°- 

■ U.OS1US 

dius, the elder, received the East, and Arcadius, 
Honorius was installed in the West. Honoring. 

The Historians of this period are as unre- 
liable as their style is bad. Moreover, nearly No reliable 

i •,, i 1 1 ■ i Historians 

every word written during this period was f this 
set down on a theological basis, or from a period, 
sectarian point of view. There is no order, 
no system, in these works. The most in- 
credible fables, far worse than the myths of 
the Greeks, which always had some kind of 
historical reality for their basis, were in- 
vented, and set down as facts, to doubt 
which was heresy, punishable, most cruelly 
by law in this world, and threatened with 
eternal hell-fire in the next. These historical 
works may be broadly divided into those of Eastern 

. _ pi fin 

the Byzantine or Oriental, and Roman or Western 
Occidental writers ; which may again be Hlstonans 
grouped as follows : — 

(a.) General Historians, treating of longer General 
historical periods, using exclusively the He- Hlstomns 
brew Eecords as the fundamental basis of 
their writings. 

(b.) Chroniclers, who are supposed to have Chroni- 
registered bare facts which, as well as their clers ' 
dates, are mere fictions, tainted with re- 
ligious superstition and prejudices. 

(c.) Biographers, treating of the lives of Bio- 
single Emperors, in which the miraculous and gra P hers> 
impossible prevail. s^rni^m^ 

NEW YORK, N, Y, 
1.1 BRAIN 




444 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Sacred (J.) Sacred Loqoqraphers, or Writers of 

pher 3 ° Legends, describing the lives of Martyrs and 
^nce'of Saints, who performed numberless miracles : 
miracles, feeding multitudes with stones, as did St. 
Patrick; changing cheeses into stones, or 
stones into cheeses ; elongating small men ; 
floating in the water, their bodies being sur- 
rounded by burning flames ; elevating them- 
selves in the air ; walking upon water, &c. 
Sometimes parts of the dead bodies of these 
saints possessed great powers. The sacred 
tooth of Holy Apollonia cured many a suffer- 
ing being, and a bone of St. Nicasius brought 
happiness to and defended everyone from 
the temptations of the Devil. We find in 
the Christian mythology an abundance of 
ancient revivals, and this serves to explain 
the analogies between and sameness of the 
legends. Shrieking and sighing gods and 
goddesses were known to the Indians, Egyp- 
tians, Greeks, and Romans. The bones of 
saintly Bonzes and Buddhistic priests are let 
into little figures, called in Thibet and China 
" Tsha-tsha," which are believed to stop 
excessive rain, to change the weather, to 
cure diseases, to bring good fortune, and to 
protect a household. The little figures, if 
they do not comply with the prayers of the 
faithful, are often punished ; put out into the 
open air, to see "how they like the scorching 
sun," or "the pelting rain." Often they are 
broken to pieces, and new protecting figures 
The are bought, as the old ones have been of 

phosis of" no use. The metamorphoses of heathen gods 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 445 

and goddesses into Christian saints, and the heathen 
introductions of ancient religious ceremonies ^desses 
into Christian rituals, are so palpable that 
a new science has been formed on these 
analogies, " Comparative Mythology," or Compara- 
rather u Comparative Religion," which, day ^ILion. 
by day, gains in importance, as the study of 
one of the most influential factors in His- 
tory. Religion is but the formal outer garb 
of morals, that ought to be discussed, in- 
quired into, and treated " without fear and 
without favour ; with tenderness and love, 
by all means ; but, before all, with an un- 
flinching and uncompromising loyalty to 
truth." (See Prof. Max Midler's " Lectures Professor 
on the Science of Religion." London: Long- Mtuier. 
mans, Green and Co., 1873.) 

The Eastern Gods, that descended from and The 

t n • , -i -i -i • . Eastern 

ascended into heaven, and became incarnate and 
beings, replaced the Western deities, that had Western 
been noble-minded heroes or wise teachers, 
received, after death, among the gods. The 
interchange was, however, so perfect that 
Humanity found itself richer by one mystic 
Deity, without losing any of the old gods or 
goddesses, the riotous bacchanalia, the gor- 
geous and splendid processions, and the 
ceremonies or rituals of the heathen world. 
The paganization of Christianity advanced 
with gigantic strides. In the worship of the 
Virgin Mary, the ancient worship of Venus 
and Isis was revived. The Dove, as the 
symbolic bird of Venus, or the more ancient 
Alilath, or Mylitta, became the Holy Ghost. 



446 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Minerva was transformed into St. Sophia, the 
patroness of wisdom. In Hermes, the good 
shepherd, and in Apollo, the sun-god, Christ 
was worshipped. The heathen conceptions 
of the gods had always been more or less 
poetical. Phoebus-Apollo, in his glittering 
chariot, drawn by four fiery steeds, driving 
in divine majesty through the skies, was a 
fanciful but grand simile. Through the pro- 
saic intermixture of Jewish notions, every- 
thing now became practical. In illustration 
of this we may quote Tertullian, who, in his 

TertuiiiaD, " Apology for Christianity," does not com- 
pare Jesus to Apollo, spreading spiritual 
light and warmth through the Universe, but 
asserts that " the Messiah was Jesus, who is 
also God. For God may be derived from 
God, as the light of a candle may be derived 
from the light of another candle. God and 
His Son are the selfsame God — a light is 
the same light as that from which it was 
taken.' 5 The indivisibility and universality 
of God did not impress Tertullian. To com- 
pare the Deity to nothing higher than the 
light of a candle, that may give light to 
another candle and yet remain the same 
candle as the other candle, was in perfect 
accordance with the intellectual powers of 
those people who formed the majority of the 
then Christians. 

Gods and The Indian " Ganesa," the Roman " Janus,'' 
was turned into St. Peter, and provided with 
the keys of heaven and hell. St. Paul was 
represented as Bacchus, distributing the com- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 447 

forting wine of life and faith to the believers. 
St. Nicholas was Poseidon, the protector and 
leader of sailors and navigators. Hercules 
became the gigantic St. Christopher; and 
St. Florian had to watch over fire, like 
Vulcanus or Hephsestos of old. The Titans 
of India, Greece and Rome were turned 
into the fallen angels; and the "Lares" of 
the Romans promoted to household saints. 
Dipuc (Cupid, or Eros) became Asmodeus, a 
mischief-making demon in matters of love. 
The forces of nature, that had been per- 
r sonified as lovely nymphs, tritons, naiads 
and nereids, were degraded to ugly witches, 
imps, devils, or other infernal monstrosities. 
Whilst this idolatrous transformation was 
taking place, and changing Christianity in 
its very essence. History was altogether dis- 
carded, and a new, so-called Science was 
established in its stead, " Dogmatics." The Dogmatics: 
culture and study of sacred tenets was prin- 
cipally promoted : 

(a.) Bv members of the higher classes in The higher 

"I 1 » T-t 1 1 * 1 C ^ aSSeS °* 

the Roman Empire, who, having adopted the 
Christianity, felt it necessary to bring the Eomans - 
new religion as much as possible into har- 
mony with the ancient philosophical writers. 
The simplicity of Christ's teaching thus lost 
its charm, and a complicated philosophical 
system was formed, in which the mystic and 
miraculous were blended with the principles 
of Plato. 

(b.) The daily increasing number of So- The 
phists, Dialecticians, converted Talmudists number^ 



448 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

Sophists and Cabalists, who made it their duty to 
Taimudi ts °hscure every intelligible passage in the Old 
and New Testaments ; to find types where 
there were none ; to take allegories and 
metaphors to the letter, and to transform 
into deep symbols what had been meant 
literally. Instead of studying humanity in 
its double nature, man was to be forced into 
the narrow Procrustean bed of Dogmatism, 
and to know nothing except incomprehensible 
mysteries. 
General General History had no longer any stand- 

impossible, ing amongst the Sciences, and is still con- 
sidered unworthy of cultivation in our Uni- 
versities in England. All those who strove 
to influence Humanity looked one-sidedly to 
man's so-called religious education, which 
was understood to mean everything calcula- 
ted to turn men and women, old and young, 
learned and ignorant, into subservient tools 
of the priests. Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy 
raised their spiteful and venomous heads, 
and spread the fire of destructive dissension 
throughout the world. Sectarians clamoured, 
Councils and Synods denounced and per- 
secuted, excommunicated and murdered, es- 
pecially since Constantine the Great had 
placed the lay-power at their disposal, until 
they finally succeeded in bringing about a 
dead silence in the realm of thought on 
religious as well as on all other matters. 
Fathers The Heretics were all stamped out, and 

ogistt Po1 " the Fathers, Apologists, and the Church 
began to rule supreme. The writings of the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 449 

Fathers are the only important literary pro- 
ducts of these times, and throw a consider- 
able light on the forms which Christianity 
assumed from the second to the twelfth 
century a.d. The Fathers, like the ancient The two 
Patricians, were divided into two classes. J^* 8868 of 
Those from the second to the sixth century Fathers, 
a.d. were the u Patres majorum gentium;" 
whilst those from the seventh to the twelfth 
century a.d. were the " Patres minorum 
gentium" During the mediaeval period of 
History the priests of the Romish Church 
were called " Scholastics," and since the Re- scholastics 
formation have assumed the title of u Theo- 
logians." The teachers of Christianity, in 
the beginning Fathers of a higher kind, 
became Fathers of a lower kind, then School- 
men, and, at last, " Knowers of God; " and, Theoio- 
as such, sometimes further, but more gene- glans * 
rally hinder, the real interests and progress 
of Humanity. 

The Fathers of the first century are the 
most important, but we possess very little of 
their writings, and what we have is full of 
interpolations, omissions, and falsifications. 

1. Linus, of Tuscia, in Italy, mentioned Liau8 < 
by St. Paul, wrote in Greek " The Sufferings 

of the Apostles Peter and Paul." Some Latin 
fragments of his work exist, but are un- 
doubtedly spurious. 

2. Barnabas, whose real name was Joses, Barnabas, 
was known by the former appellation, mean- 
ing u son of consolation," on account of his 
exalted enthusiasm. He was a rich Levite ? 

2 Q 



450 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

who sold all he possessed and gave the 

money to the Apostles ; he accompanied St. 

Paul on his voyage, and was executed at 
Teases Kyprus. Only one letter is left of him, in 
that the w } 1 i c h he proves most earnestly that the 
had been moral and ceremonial laws of Moses had 
by°Je«5 keen abolished by Christ. He was credited 

with having also written a Gospel, but this 

was declared apocryphal. 
Hennas. 3. Hermas, according to some a rich Jew, 

who lived at Rome and became a fervid 

follower of St. Paul, has left us a work in 
"Penmen," Greek under the title " Poimen" (the Shep- 
S? ^ * herd), in which an angel, as shepherd, 

bhepherd. J\ . mi t» i ' • i • • i i 

preaches religion. lire Book is divided 
into four visions, twelve prayers, and ten 
parables, and, with the exception of some 
Greek fragments still extant, has come down 
to us in a Latin translation. 
Clement of 4. Clement of Rome, probably the one 
Rome. mentioned by St. Paul in the Epistle to the 
Philippians iv. 3, is said to have performed 
many miracles, and was executed on the 
shores of the Euxine by order of the Em- 
peror Trajan. Dodwell and Winter, how- 
ever, declare this account to be a fiction. 
Several letters of his, written towards the 
end of the first century a.d., are in existence, 
of which one to the Korinthians, who had 
revolted, is apparently genuine. The others 
are assumed to be forgeries. We possess 
a " Collection of the Oldest Christian 
Church Regulations " by him, but the book 
is considered spurious, and was apparently 



THE SCIENCE OP HISTORY. 451 

compiled as late as the fourth or fifth 
century. 

5. Ignatius, of Nura, more probably Nora Ignatius. 
in Cappadocia, was said to have been the 

" little child" held up to the people when 
Christ uttered the words, " Whosoever there- 
fore shall humble himself as this little child, 
the same is greatest in the kingdom of 
heaven " (Matt, xviii. 4). But, as Chrysostom 
says that Ignatius never beheld Christ, the 
account must be a mere fabrication. He 
was consecrated Bishop of Antiochia by St. 
Peter, and having dared to reproach the Em- 
peror Trajan, on account of his persecution of 
the Christians, was brought to Rome, thrown 
before lions, and torn to pieces. He wrote 
many letters, but they are declared by learned 
ecclesiastical writers to be forgeries, abound- 
ing in interpolations of a later period. A 
letter of his to the Virgin Mary, and her 
answer in Latin, are pious fabrications. 

6. Polycakp, when eighty-five years old, PoJycarp. 
was burned under Marcus Aurelius, and it is 
related as a fact that his soul changed into a 
dove, and was seen flying up into heaven. 

We possess of him a letter to the Philippians, 
and a work on "Faith," but both have been 
proved to be forgeries. 

7. Dionysius, of Athens, a highly-educated Dionysius. 
man, well versed in all the different sciences, 

a member of the highest tribunal, the Areope- 
gus, and therefore surnamed the "Areopagite," 
was made Bishop of Athens by St. Paul, and 
suffered martyrdom under Domitian. We 

2 g 2 



452 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

possess of him the following works : (1) " On 
the Order of the Heavenly Spirits;" (2) " On 
the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy; " (3) " On God's 
Name;" (4) " On Mystic Theology;" (5) 
"Letters" to the "monk" Cams, the presbyter 
Polycarp, the bishop Titus, &c. But all the 
writings attributed to Dionysius are full of 
theosophical and mystic controversies, en- 
tirely unknown in the first century a.d. ; 
they refer to ceremonies, the introduction of 
which was of a later date; and the very 
word " monakos " (monk), which is used, did 
not exist at his time; so that it is evident 
they are forgeries, and could not have 
been written earlier than the fourth or fifth 
century a.d. The intermixture of Plato's 
Philosophy with the teachings of Christianity 
is also extremely suspicious, and could not 
well have been the work of Dionysius, not- 
withstanding his predilection for the Greeks ; 
for the Christian doctrine was in the first 
century still considered to have been an en- 
tirely new Revelation, based on the " Old 
Testament," and opposed to everything 
Pagan. 
papias. 8. Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, in Phry- 

gia, a disciple of John and friend of Poly- 
carp, was a learned and eloquent writer. 
Of his five Books in "Explanation of the 
Lord's Sermon on the Mount," only a few 
fragments are extant. 

The Christian Religion was exposed to 
very violent attacks from the Jews and the 
Heathens. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 453 

I. The Jews objected to the new religion Objections 
because : j ews t0 

(a.) It taught Atheism. Chrjs- 

(b.) It denied the unity of the Godhead. liy " 

(c.) Christ was not the expected Messiah, 
for He did not fulfil the prophecies. 

(d.) Christianity demanded impossibilities 
of a human being, and thus was utterly un- 
practical. 

(e.) The Mosaic Law could not be abolished, 
being God's own revelation. God could not 
contradict God. 

(/.) The ceremonial law in all its details 
was indispensable to the happiness and salva- 
tion of mankind. 

(g.) Jesus was a fiction, and all that had 
been reported of his life, miracles, and resur- 
rection was mere invention. 

(h.) Christianity taught nothing new ; all 
its moral enactments were contained in the 
Old Testament. 

(z.) Jesus was a Sabbath-breaker. 

II. The Heathens objected to Christianity ° b { e h c e tions 
because : Hea- 

(a.) It was an innovation. The ethics of J^. to 
the Ancients contained everything necessary tianity. 
to make men virtuous and happy ; and, as 
they were older, they had greater authority. 

(b.) Everything of a higher and practical 
tendency had already been taught by the phi- 
losophers of antiquity, and, as far as morals 
were concerned, nothing new was enunciated. 

(c.) The form of the new religion was 
entirely objectionable, for the old gods were 



454 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

denied, which led to Atheism, and the new 
worship was but another kind of idolatry. 

(<£ ) It taught the worship of the head of 
a donkey. 

(e.) Christians worshipped the clouds, the 
sun, and the moon. 

(/.) They worshipped a crucified criminal. 

(g.) They maimed themselves. 

(h.) They were self-murderers. 

(*.) They were reckless and desperate in 
all their dealings, inordinate in their love 
and hatred. 

(k.) They were " Sibylists " and magi- 
cians ; dealing in mysteries and pretending 
to perform miracles, which they learned from 
Indian and Egyptian impostors. 

(I.) They were " Anthropolatrse ' (idola- 
trous worshippers of a man). 

(m.) They were " Theophagi," God-eaters, 
eating the flesh and drinking the blood of 
their own God. To eat certain parts of the 
flesh of the sacrifices was permitted with the 
ancient priests; but the sacrifice was not the 
Deity itself, and they were horrified at the 
idea put forward by the mystic priests of 
Christianity. 

(n.) They were superstitious conspirators 
and implacable fanatics. 

(0.) They hated humanity and blasphemed 
God ; of whom they asserted that He had 
seduced, or had permitted the First Parents 
to be seduced, to develop in Humanity 
the "Original Sin;" for which deed, done 
by God Himself, He had to incarnate 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 455 

Himself as His own Son, and to be crucified, 
thus to save Humanity from eternal per- 
dition. 

{p.) They despised common sense and 
reason. 

(q.) They were divided into innumerable 
sects, which did not agree on any point of 
dogmatic importance. 

(r.) They courted death. 

(s.) Their assertion that Christianity had 
been instituted for the benefit of Humanity 
was not true. 

(t.) They committed the same atrocious 
crimes as the Heathens, only with this dis- 
tinction, that they murdered and burned 
for the u glory of their God;" whilst the 
Heathens used violence to defend the State 
from dangerous commotions. 

(u.) The private life of Jesus and his dis- 
ciples had been far from blameless, if their 
biographers were to be credited. 

(y.) The Old Testament, on which the 
" New Faith" was based, was full of incre- 
dible stories, contradictions, fables, and 
teeming with ignorance and historical inac- 
curacies. 

(w.) The same was the case with the New 
Testament, in which all the laws of nature 
were suspended for the glorification of one 
who could not save himself from the most 
ignominious death. 

(%.) The notions of Christianity about God 
were inconsistent with the lofty philosophical 
conceptions of the Deity; they were con- 



456 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

fused and contradictory, unintelligible and 
blasphemous; and wherever these notions 
approached correctness, they were in per- 
fect accordance with those of the Heathens, 
which the Christians had copied. 

The attacks became, on both sides, the 
fiercer, the more clearly the controversialists 
and enemies of Christianity saw that their 
dominion was at an end, and that everything 
was taking new forms. 
students That our readers may study both sides of 
mult know ^ n * s powerful moral and intellectual ques- 
both sides tion, we give first a list of the most deter- 
questa. niined antagonists of Christianity, and will 
then proceed to analyse the writings of the 
most important Christian " Apologists." The 
following were the antagonists : — 
Ceisus. Celsus, whose writings are only known to 

us through Origen (see below), his deter- 
mined opponent, wrote a work against the 
Christians, in eight Books. We possess very 
little information about his person, and the 
philosophical school to which he belonged. 
JSome assert that he was an Epikurean, others 
a Platonist. What we know of Celsus may 
Lardner's be found in Lardner's " Collection of Ancient 
Collection. j ew { s ] 1 anc [ Heathen Testimonies to the 

Truth of the Christian Religion." London : 
1765. 
Lucian. Lucian (see page 384) described Chris- 

tianity, in " Three Dialogues," as a dreamy 
superstition, based on falsehoods. Another 
work of his, under the title " Philopatris 
and Didaskomenos," is a forgery, and could 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 457 

have been written in the times of the Em- 
peror Julian. We are sorry to say that 
Jewish and early Christian writers were often 
guilty of such falsifications, in order to throw 
doubt upon the original and genuine writings 
of some obnoxious author. Books were com- 
piled imitating with a certain cleverness the 
style of some antagonistic writer, and thrust 
upon the world in his name. These spurious 
works were full of anachronisms, that were 
easily detected, and the real writings, in 
common with the fabrications, were then de- 
clared to be forgeries. This stratagem was 
resorted to partly to check the influence of 
such hostile works, and partly to save authors 
the trouble of refutation. 

Porphyrius Malchus, of Tyre, was said Porphy- 
to have been a Christian, but returned to 
Heathenism ; though this may be a mere 
invention of his enemies. He wrote fifteen 
Books "On Christianity," but they have been 
entirely destroyed, with the exception of a 
few fragments, selected by Eusebius for the 
purpose of refutation. Scanty as these frag- 
ments are, they throw a considerable light 
on the historical development of Christianity. 
They have been collected by Lardner in the 
work mentioned above. 

Hierokles, of Nikomedia, a philosopher Hierokies. 
under Diocletian, was one of the principal 
instigators of the persecution of the Christians 
under this Emperor. In his writings, which 
have been destroyed, he compared Jesus to 
Apollonius of Tyana, whose ^ life was re- 



nus 



458 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

lated in so fabulous a manner by bis disci- 
ples that we are at a loss to discover whether 
he was a sage, an impostor, or a fanatic." 
Apollonius could prophesy and see distant 
occurrences. He described the murder of 
Domitian, which happened at Rome, to the 
people in the open market-place at Ephesus, 
at the very moment when the terrible deed 
was done. He used to have interviews with 
spirits; revived a dead young woman, for 
which miracle he was expelled from Rome, 
and died when one hundred years old. The 
wonderful life of this contemporary of Jesus 
caused the Heathens often to confound the 
two, and the deeds of the one were attributed 
to the other. 

Libanius. Libanius wrote a panegyric of Pagan 
temples, and in it attacked the Christian 
religion. 

chiS ma ' Symmachus wrote a letter, in which he 
requested the restoration of the temple of 
the Goddess of Victory at Rome. He vehe- 
mently accused the Christians of mysticism, 
and was refuted by Ambrosius. 

Julian. Julian, the Apostate (see p. 373), so called 

because he became a Pagan, after his con- 
version to Christianity, wrote seven books 
" On Christianity;" but, with the exception 
of a few fragments of the first book, mentioned 
in the Ten Controversial Books against him 
by Cyril of Alexandria, they are all lost. 
Cyril apparently only knew three of the 
seven books, but possibly these were the 
only ones directed against the Gospel. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 459 

These were the most important Pagan 
writers against Christianity, who by their 
very attacks called into existence an entirely 
new science, which up to our own days is 
cultivated as " Apologetics." A science not "Apoioge- 
exactly instrumental to the propagation of a new 
truth. The Apologists made it a point, by gcience ( ? )- 
fair, or by any other means, to defend Chris- 
tianity, and to silence their antagonists. So 
long as the Christian religion was oppressed 
and persecuted, its votaries took the trouble 
to argue and to refute those who attacked 
them, and some of the Apologists showed 
an undoubted superiority over their adver- 
saries. 

The Greek Apologists whose works have 
been altogether lost were : Quadratus, Aris- 
tides, Aristo, Melito, Claudius Apollinaris, 
Miltiades, Apollonius (a Roman Senator), 
Hippolytus, Macarius Magnes, Theodorus of 
Mopsuestia, and Isidorus of Alexandria. 

The Apologies still extant are those of the 
following Fathers : — 

1. Justin Martyr was born 89 a.d., at ^ atin 
Flavia Neapolis (Sichem), in Palestine, aryr 
of Samaritan parents. He was highly edu- 
cated, and well versed in all the different 
philosophical systems of the ancients, and 
probably converted to Christianity by Poly- 
carp. He became a most zealous defender 
of Christianity against Jews and Heathens, 
without ever repudiating his philosophical 
principles. The writings of Justin afford 
an indisputable and uncontrovertible proof 



460 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

that Christianity and Philosophy are not 
antagonistic to, but complete one another. 
His work?. His principal works were a " Dialogue with 
Triphone," " An Apology," addressed to the 
Roman Senate, " A Parenesis (Exhortation) 
to the Gentiles," " A Word to the Greeks," 
and " On God's Rule." Seven other works 
were falsely attributed to him. He often 
makes mystic assertions ; he seriously main- 
tains that the fallen angels had given laws 
to the Heathen ; and that the gods of the 
Romans and Greeks were the direct de- 
scendants of these angels. Yet, whenever 
he leaves the field of dogmatic mysticism he 
is clear, and gives us a deep insight into the 
spirit of Primitive Christianity, which had 
not then been altogether changed by priestly 
influences. He distinctly teaches that faith 
and professions go for nothing, if life and 
actions are in contradiction to the teachings 
of Christ. He proclaims, as the most im- 
portant article of the Christian Religion, that 
Christ, the Christ was the Logos, or Universal Reason, 
Universal of which mankind were all partakers; and, 
Reason, therefore, those who lived according to the 
Logos, or Reason, were Christians, notwith- 
standing that they might pass for Atheists. 
Such among the Greeks were Sokrates and 
Herakleitos, and the like ; and such among 
the Barbarians were Abraham and Ananias, 
and many others. So, on the other hand, 
those who had lived in former times in de- 
fiance of the Logos, or Reason, were evil, 
and enemies to Christ, and murderers of such 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 461 

as lived according* to the Logos, or Reason ; 
but they who had made, or make, the Logos, 
or Reason, the rule of their actions were and ah good 
are Christians, and men without fear and christians 
trembling. From this passage it is evident 
that the views of one of the most celebrated 
Fathers and Apologists are certainly not 
those of the majority of our modern priests, 
of whatever Christian denomination they 
may be. Students of History cannot fail to 
perceive that the struggle between faith or 
religion and reason or science, was the vital 
force that made it possible for Christians 
uninterruptedly to progress. The aim and 
tendency of the most learned and most 
honest reformers of our times is but to bring 
back into Christianity the universal spirit of 
tolerance, that considers a good man's deeds, 
and not his ignorance, credulity, and oral 
professions. 

2. Athenagoras was an Athenian Philoso- Athena- 
pher, Director of the Christian School at goras " 
Alexandria, and predecessor of Clement. 
Plato and Christ were found by him to be in 
harmony. This welding into one of the 
philosophy of the Heathens and Christians 
was of the greatest service to Humanity. His 
principal work was an " Apology for Chris- 
tianity." Athenagoras belonged to those in 
whom the emotional and credulous element 
sways the reasoning and arguing power. He 
did not believe in a general, but only in a More 
special inspiration. He strove to be more orthodox 
orthodox than Justin, but could not well j us tin. 



462 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

divest himself of the powerful influence of 
the Neo-Platonic school. How many pas- 
sages have been forged in his writings, with 
what interpolations they have been filled 
out, it would be extremely difficult to de- 
cide. He is made to say that the " Holy 
Ghost inspired the Prophets as a flute- 
player inspires his flute," which metaphor is 
not in the style of a Platonic philosopher. 
His wild and fantastic speculations concern- 
ing the " Fallen Angels," whom he divides 
into two principal categories — such as have 
lost all sense of virtue through carnal sin, 
and such as still know what is good — may be 
one of those extraordinary vagaries engen- 
dered by the study of Plato. He argued 
very severely on matrimony, and protested 
against a widow's marrying again. These are 
Indian and Buddhistic notions, which may, 
however, be traced in all the writings of the 
Fathers. 

irenseus. 3. Iren^eus, a Greek by birth, was a dis- 
ciple of Poly carp, by whom he was sent to 
preach the Gospel among the Gauls. His 
writings are of great importance, for he 
directed his eloquent powers more against 
the internal enemies of Christianity, who, by 
their monstrous innovations and introduc- 
tions of new dogmas, distorted the simple 
teachings of Christ, than against Heathens. 
We possess of him five Books against here- 
sies, translated into Latin. 

Theophi- 4. Theophilus, born of Heathen parents, 
became a Christian and Bishop of Antiochia. 



lus 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 463 

His writings are full of learning, but more 
remarkable for their erudition than for their 
order and method. He tried to refute 
Marcion and Hermogenes ; calculated the 
duration of the world down to Marcus Aure- 
lius Yerus ; wrote three Books in defence of 
Christianity, a commentary upon the Pro- 
verbs, and another upon the Four Evangelists. 
Like other writers of this period, he attri- 
buted a double sense to all the words in Scrip- 
ture ; one obvious and literal, and another 
hidden and mysterious, which lay concealed, 
and could only be understood and fathomed 
by men, endowed with special grace and 
faith. All that was intelligible was treated 
with contempt, and the whole of the intel- 
lectual force was applied to reading mystic 
meanings in plain words, and finding inter- 
pretations that obscured instead of unfolding 
the simple sense of the Scriptures. 

5. Tatian, born in Syria, 130 a.d., be- Tatian. 
longed to the mystic philosophers. A disciple 
of Justin Martyr, he became a gloomy Gnos- 
tic. He looked upon matter as the fountain 
of all evil ; recommended the mortification of 
the body; denied the reality of Christ's body; 
and introduced Indian, Persian, and, above 
all, Buddhistic ideas into Christianity. His His 
disciples and followers rejected with a sort of dlscl P les - 
horror all the comforts and enjoyments of 
life ; they abstained from wine with such 
rigorous obstinacy, that at the celebration of 
the Lord's Supper they used nothing but 
water; and as it was asserted that Christ had 



464 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

turned water into wine, they were perfectly 
logical in assuming that he might turn water 
into his own blood. Tatian was distin- 
guished for his assumption of a Universal 
Soul pervading the Universe, in contradis- 
tinction to the Creator of all things visible. 
The idea was borrowed from Plato, who 
took it from the Egyptians, who had in- 
herited it from Indian Pantheists. 

The " Harmonies of the Gospels," a work 
attributed to Tatian, was written after him, 
by a certain Ammonius, of Alexandria. 

Hermias. 6. Hermias, a Christian Philosopher, who 
lived in the third century a.d., was a disciple 
of Tatian, and has left us controversial writ- 
ings on the " Origin of All Things," " God," 
the " Soul," &c, proving the fallacies of an- 
cient philosophers on all these subjects, but 
throwing very little light on them. 

Clemens of ^. Clemens, known as Clemens of Alex- 
andria, a Greek philosopher, born at Athens, 
was converted to Christianity. Having tra- 
velled all over Greece, Italy and Calabria, 
Palestine and Egypt, he endeavoured to 
bring harmony into the Stoic and Pytha- 
gorean philosophy, and the teachings of 
Christ. He was a disciple of Pantsenus, and 
one of the most illustrious writers of his 
age. His travels, and the diligence with 
which he studied the philosophical and re- 
ligious works, and the social condition of 
different nations, enabled him to bring 
Christianity into a scientific and more sys- 

Sienfs? at tematic form. He was endowed with a 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 465 

powerful intellect, deep emotional feelings, 
and a lively imagination. He was excel- 
lently fitted to excite fervid enthusiasm, to 
produce intellectual activity, and to give 
a new direction to the spiritual efforts of 
Humanity. There can be no doubt that 
the Ancient Classics no longer sufficed to 
satisfy man's restless nature. The whole his- 
torical and philosophical range of inquiry was 
apparently either too small or was altogether 
exhausted.^ The theological spirit of the 
East, in being drawn into the mighty vortex 
of man's activity, opened new fields to the 
moral and intellectual forces working in 
Humanity. The union between God°and 
man, formally accomplished by the classic 
world, was now, as we have said, to be 
spiritually completed. But the intellectual 
force, ^ once set into motion, in whatever 
direction, must produce certain effects; it 
only remains stationary, when it turns one- 
sidedly in an eternal circle round the same 
centre. The Divine Power, which had as- 
sumed Form, in the unsurpassed artistic, poeti- 
cal, and philosophical works of antiquity, was, 
with Clemens, to become flesh, vivified by 
the spirit of the East, and newly moulded, as 
one whole, by Christianity. The mytholo- 
gies of the Greeks, the theosophies of the 
Jews, and the mysteries of the Egyptians 
were to be blended with the sublime moral 
teachings of Christ. Whilst we are ready 
to acknowledge his great qualities, we can- Hie defects 
not pass over his false assertions, which 

2 H 



466 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

still exercise a pernicious influence, and 
hamper the orthodox in their study of true 
History. He could not see that the eternal 
laws, in the moral and intellectual world, 
must produce, under similar circumstances, 
the same effects ; that the Deity could not 
have revealed Himself exclusively to a few 
Jews. Notwithstanding the fact that the 
Egyptian priests, the Indian sages, the 
teachers of the Persians, and the philoso- 
phers of the Greeks knew nothing of the 
Antiquity writings of Moses ; Clemens persisted in his 
writings of assertion that Moses and the Prophets were 
Moses and older than any of the philosophers of other 
prophets, nations, and that the latter must have bor- 
rowed all that was meritorious in their 
works from those writings. This stupen- 
dous falsehood, promulgated by Clemens, 
worked out, and repeated for the last 1,600 
years in the principal schools of the Chris- 
tians, became a living reality, a monstrous 
petrification in the believing, but not reason- 
ing or inquiring minds of the majority of 
the North- Western nations. This systematic 
Faisifi- falsification of History was promoted by the 
History f inordinate pride of an active, intellectual, 
and dispersed tribe, styling itself the 
" Chosen People," whose theocratic institu- 
tions were used by the Christian Hier- 
archy, which borrowed from the Heathens a 
vast and omnipotent political and social 
organization, retarding the progress of Hu- 
manity. The wealth and power of innumer- 
able States, with the whole machinery of 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 467 

national collegiate, and university educa- 
tion in their hands, assisted in it. Honour- 
able and learned men of all classes, since the 
times of Clemens of Alexandria, have taken 
certain historical and chronological assertions 
for granted. The difficulty became greater, 
the more the learned, for thousands of years, 
considered it their duty to believe blindly in 
the assertions of those upon whom they 
looked as authorities. By degrees all adver- 
saries were silenced by fear ; any inquiring 
spirits were destroyed by fire and sword ; 
and historical falsehoods were taught to 
Humanity as indisputable " Truths." 

The great and unsurpassed Church His- ?/* . 
torian, Mosheim, a Doctor of Divinity and on this 
Chancellor of the University of Gottingen, P enod - 
in his " Ecclesiastical History, Ancient and 
Modern, from the Birth of Christ to the 
Beginning of the Eighteenth Century" 
(translated into English by Dr. Archibald 
Maclain, published in four volumes, London, 
1826), bitterly complains, that the primitive 
defenders of Christianity were not always 
happy in the choice of their arguments ; 
but they showed more candour and pro- 
bity than those of succeeding ages. The 
use of sophistry, and the habit of em- 
ploying pious frauds in support of the truth 
(what truth can that be which is supported by 
pious fraud?) had, though not at the begin- 
ning, soon infected the writings of the Chris- 
tians, whose works were worthy of little admi- 
ration on account of their inaccuracy and the 

2 h 2 



468 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



The 

arguments 
of Apolo- 
gists. 



Origen. 



His 

character 
and talent. 



shallowness of their reasonings. Most of them 
appear to have been destitute of penetration, 
learning, order, application, and force. The 
authors frequently introduce arguments void 
of all solidity, and much more proper to dazzle 
the fancy, than to enlighten and convince the 
mind. Some think that the antiquity of a 
doctrine is a mark of its truth ; others plead 
proscription against their adversaries; others, 
again, imitate those wrong-headed controver- 
sialists among the Jews who, infatuated with 
their own cabalistic jargon, offered, as argu- 
ments, the imaginary powers of certain mystic 
words and particular numbers. And yet works 
written in such a spirit were considered, and 
are still considered, by so-called learned theo- 
logians and historians the only foundation 
of truth. 

7. Origen — who must not be confounded 
with a philosopher of the same name, the 
teacher of Longinus — was born 185 a.d., at 
Alexandria, studied under Clemens, became 
a presbyter and catechist of Alexandria, and 
was a man of vast and uncommon abilities, 
and one of the most genial writers of the 
third century a.d. The History of Chris- 
tianity must remain a mere unintelligible 
riddle without a thorough acquaintance with 
the writings of Origen, the greatest genius the 
Christian world produced in that age. Dr. 
Mosheim says of him : " Had the justness of 
his judgment been equal to the immensity 
of his genius, the fervour of his piety, his 
indefatigable patience, his extensive erudi- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 469 

tion, and his other eminent and superior 
talents, all encomiums must have fallen short 
of his merit. Yet, such as he was, his virtues 
and his labours deserve the admiration of all 
ages ; and his name will be transmitted with 
honour through the annals of time, as long 
as learning and genius shall be esteemed 
among men " (vol i., page 198). Yet this 
very panegyrist is obliged to confess that, 
by an " unhappy method," Origen opened 
a secure retreat for all the errors that a wild 
and ill-regulated imagination could bring 
forth. Finding that he could not defend the How he 
Scriptures from the criticism of the heretics the Scrip, 
and infidels, he had recourse to an extremely tures. 
ingenious means of trying to explain them, 
in the way that the Platonists endeavoured 
to explain the history of the gods, as embody- 
ing some phenomenon of nature, or even 
some historical fact. This learned Divine con- His 
sidered an " unhappy method," which caused ^^f?. 7 
the Scriptures to be looked upon from a 
different, and more rational, point of view. 
Origen was the first to throw doubt on the 
literal interpretation of the Scriptures, and 
by this means to shake " Bibliolatry " (the 
idolatrous and senseless worship of the Bible) 
to its foundation. He averred that the true 
meaning 1 of the sacred writings ought to be 
sought for in the sense, arising from the 
nature of the things themselves. He despised 
the outward letter, wherever it was sense- 
less ; he asserted that there might be a secret 
moral meaning, and that we must read the 



470 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



He was 

the first 
ecclesias- 
tical critic. 



The most 
important 
works. 

On the 
Mil- 

lennium. 



The 

baptism of 
Heretics. 



Scriptures by the light of reason, striving to 
find out its hidden truths. He was the first 
ecclesiastical writer who attempted to awaken 
in man a critical spirit of inquiry even in 
religious matters. We may approve or not 
of his divisions and subdivisions ; we may or 
may not object to his moral and mystical, 
his inferior and superior distinct regions, his 
allegorical and anagogetical worlds ; but we 
must admit that he aroused in a "prodigious 
number of interpreters" an unparalleled intel- 
lectual activity. We must not be astonished 
to hear that nearly all the works of Origen, 
Hippolytus, and Victorinus, written against 
the Jews, have entirely disappeared. 

The most important works of this century 
were those concerning the Millennium, or 
reign of a thousand years; the efficacy of 
baptism, and the baptism of heretics ; and 
the doctrines of Origen. Christ was to come 
again and to reign a thousand years, and 
then the world would be finally destroyed. 
The intellectual force of Humanity must in- 
deed have been at a low ebb, since such 
childish discussions could occupy and interest 
sensible men and women, and, above all, 
serious theological writers. As to the bap- 
tism of heretics, the question was even more 
complicated. " Many of the Oriental and 
African Christians placed recanting heretics 
in the rank of religious teachers, and ad- 
mitted them by baptism into the Communion 
of the faithful ; while the greatest part of the 
European churches, considering the baptism 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 471 

of heretics as valid, used no other forms in 
their reception than the imposition of hands, 
accompanied with solemn prayers." Origen Q f h Q r Y e r ^ 8 
maintained, among other things, the "pre- 
existence of souls, and their fall into mortal 
bodies, in consequence of their deviation 
from the laws of order in their first state." 
This was a grave error, and might have been 
expiated, but Origen had the boldness to 
assert that he believed in the " final resto- 
ration of all intelligent beings to order 
and happiness ; " this was equivalent to 
denying eternal hell-fire, and was too much 
for the loving hearts of good Christians 
to bear ; he was, therefore, condemned as 
a heretic, and degraded from the sacerdotal 
dignity. 

8. Eusebius was the founder of Christian Eusebuis, 
Historiography. His works are of the ut- ^founder 
most importance, for he was the principal christian 
authority during the whole of the mediaeval graphy?" 
period. He has left us a "Chronology," which 
still serves narrow-minded writers of our own 
times as the very foundation of historical 
dates. Bigoted Historians follow the calcula- 
tions of the Seder Olam Rabba, which Eusebius 
faithfully copied ; they use the computations 
of Rabbi Hillel Hanassi, and Bishop Usher, 
who lived in the sixteenth century a.d. ; 
though neither of these two writers could have 
possibly known anything of the lately-dis- 
covered Indian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and 
Egyptian antiquities and records, which have 
altogether changed ancient History. Through 



472 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



History 

and 

Theology. 



Eusebius 
falsified 

History. 



Eusebius, History received a theological col- 
ouring; was made subservient to faith, and 
its philosophical treatment, as taught by the 
ancient Greeks and Romans, altogether dis- 
appeared. Every assertion had to be brought 
into conformity with the articles of the Chris- 
tian faith, and the Jewish records. Eusebius 
must be looked upon as the principal source 
of the History of Christianity ; he certainly 
collected most of the material of ancient 
times, and of his own period. He endeavoured 
to prove the superiority of Christian morals 
to the most important classical philosophical 
systems, and arranged a vast amount of detail 
for this, undoubtedly one-sided, theological 
purpose. In doing this he was obliged to 
sift his facts, to omit all those that told 
against his predilections, and to give to the 
rest such a colouring as served his special 
intentions. He treats Greeks and Romans 
from his peculiar standpoint. He never pre- 
tends to be impartial ; he is proud to present 
only one side of the question, but he bases, 
his assertions on an immense number of 
authentic documents, and has gathered a 
certain amount of evidence, which makes his 
works of great value. Eusebius, in order to 
prove the authority of the Jewish records 
and ancient traditions, had recourse to a 
peculiar method of representing facts. This 
method is still that in which History is falsi- 
fied, distorted, and degraded to a means of 
strengthening some preconceived prejudices. 
He compiled, from Oriental Documents 3 as 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 473 

far as they were known in his time, a medley 
of facts, priestly fables, myths, dates, and 
incidents, all arranged, trimmed, adjusted, 
and falsified for the exclusive purpose of 
showing how reliable, true, and indisputable 
the Histories of the Jews were ; and that to 
know them, was to know the History of the 
whole World, from the Creation down to his 
own days. Unfortunately, the majority of 
later Historians blindly followed his system 
of writing History, without daring to doubt 
or to inquire ; and this is still done in our 
own times. Insignificant facts, names of 
kings, and dates arbitrarily fixed for occur- 
rences, were to be considered the principal 
elements of History, though they were of as 
little real import, as a list of kings of some 
African tribe. Contrary to the sacred pur- 
pose of real History, which is to teach us, 
and to rouse our thinking and reasoning 
faculties, History was to be made a neglected 
garden, covered with mythical weeds, and 
legendary insects, with stagnant pools of im- 
possibilities, and the wild flowers of imagin- 
ary occurrences, smothering the best and most 
reliable fact-plants ; no roads to guide us 
were allowed; and there were no traces of 
an intelligent philosophical gardener, bring- 
ing order and a certain system into the 
universal chaos. Eusebius, however, fur- 
nished the Mediaeval book-worms, and the 
biassed Historians of our own times with an 
abundance of material, which they assidu- 
ously selected, used, and by means of which 



474 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Nissa. 



Nemesius. 



they most conscientiously prevented History 
from becoming a science. 
Athanasius c^ Athanasius, whom we have men- 
tioned above, introduced a new element into 
History and Christianity. The realistic gla- 
diatorial fights were changed by him into 
gladiatorial wrangles with mere " words, 
words, words ! " 
Gregory 10 and 11. Gregory Nazianzen and Gre- 
and Zianzen gory of Nissa occupy an important place 
Gregory of among the famous theological and polemic 
writers of the fourth century ; they both fol- 
lowed the principles of Origen, and were 
highly endowed with a false and pernicious 
eloquence, which they used in working out 
the abstruse dogmas of the Church. 

12. Nemesius, formerly a Roman Prefect 
and very learned lawyer, has left us works 
in which he discusses, most learnedly, 
the Immortality of the Soul, Freedom of 
Will, Divine Providence, Power, and Good- 
ness, and attacks the ancient notions of 
the Heathens with regard to Fate. He was 
well versed in natural science, and was the 
first to work out a Theory on the Circulation 
of the Blood (see Sprengel, " History of 
Medicine," vol. ii.). 

13. Basil the Great was educated at 
Athens, in the same school as Julian (after- 
wards Emperor). In conjunction with Gre- 
gory Nazianzen, he was to the Eastern 
Church what Tertullian and St. Augustine 
were to the Western. They were all looked 
upon as principal authorities in theological 



Basil the 
Great. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 475 

matters. The religious and ascetic, contro- 
versial, and philosophical character with 
which they invested the Christian religion 
has remained, to this very day, the promi- 
nent element in all the teachings of the 
North-Western and South-Eastern sections. 
Monks became all powerful ; they undertook Monks all 
the education and instruction of the people, p ° 
and East and West were placed under the 
exceptional influence of Theology. We must 
trace the cause of this pernicious phenome- 
non, to the reaction which set in against the 
powerful influence of Libanius (see above) 
and the Emperor Julian. All the subtleties 
of sophistry were applied to support and 
spread the now already entirely changed and 
degenerated teachings of the Church. The 
obstinacy of a blind faith was united with 
the most involved intricacies of dialectics, to 
propagate the new doctrine. The Sophists 
of old prided themselves on being able to 
discuss any given subject, from any point of 
view. If this had been done for the pur- 
pose of eventually discovering truth, such 
an exhaustive method would not have 
been objectionable ; but truth was as little 
their aim as it was that of the Christian 
Divines, who borrowed their two-edged dia- 
lectical weapons from these very Heathen 
Sophists. The reaction against learning and The 

, i ■ , i . -i i . • i reaction 

science was the greater, as these theological ag ainst 
Dialecticians generally asserted and believed learning. 
that knowledge and culture of the mind led 
to licentiousness, sin, and a morbid depravity. 



476 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Rome was their example. Man was to seek 
happiness in contemplation and solitude. 
The influence which monks, their founders 
and leaders, and their great learned authori- 
ties had on the development of Humanity, 
forms one of the most interesting phenomena 
in History, and convincingly proves our 
theory. The intellectual, reasoning, thinking, 
inquiring- — in a word, the dynamic force, with 
which Humanity is endowed, was to be 
annihilated, or exclusively directed to divine 
matters, as they said, in " the deep humble- 
ness " of their hearts. 
d> n th' St ° ^ an was to suppress and to destroy all 
self of his those feelings, with which the Eternal Creator 
nature ^ ia( ^ en dowed him. Man was to live in soli- 
tude. Shut out from the light of the world 
in self- chosen darkness, he was to cease to 
be a sensible being. A life of voluntary 
wretchedness and unnatural seclusion was to 
be his lot. Man, who was created to live in 
Society, was to shun Society; and yet, in 
his loneliness, to rule and guide Humanity 
more powerfully than ever. Nothing was to 
excite any interest, but that which was con- 
nected with, or referred to religion. The 
State, the family, the administration of 
justice, the management of hospitals and 
poorhouses, the education of children, the 
very tilling of the soil, the whole people, in 
all their different social layers, were now 
under the dominion of the Church, and in the 
Church Monks and Ascetics ruled supreme. 
Sophistry and Casuistry, according to the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 477 

law of action and reaction, led these monks 
to learning and inquiry, whilst pretended 
sanctity, self-denial, and self- abnegation 
produced licentiousness, pride and luxury. 
For a time the very mode of thinking 
was vitiated to so great an extent that it 
was almost impossible to find a straightfor- 
ward, right-minded man, who said what he 
meant, and who had not a second under- 
current of thoughts contrary to his words. 
The people were terrified at every step they 
ventured to take ; in every thought they 
happened to think ; with every look they 
cast around ; for all was temptation, sinful- 
ness, and horrible wickedness. Nature was 
to be expelled from nature. Man was to see 
in every other man an offspring of hell, sent 
into this world to do wrong. Hatred and Hatred 
contempt, instead of love and veneration, tempTin. 
were thus made the fundamental principles stead of 
of man's historical destiny. Such ideas were v ° e ner- n 
perseveringly fostered in man, and an arti- ati0D - 
ficial mode of living was the natural result. 
The painful self-torment imposed upon every- 
one, the slavish submission to the will of 
the Church, which became God incarnate, 
made the people what they were, and what 
they still are in the East, under the sway of 
priests, who followed out, and still follow out, 
the principles of Gregory of Nazianzen and 
Basil the Great. These two teachers were 
the more dangerous because of their excep- 
tional intellectual powers. Their spirit also 
ruled the West for a long period ; but there 



478 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

the entirely different national and ethnical 
component elements produced quite other 
effects. A melancholy religious madness 
seized upon the East, and is the cause of 
that terribly sunken moral and political state 
in which the members of the Eastern Church 
are found in our own days. This madness 
in time became a contagious disease, and is 
now an inherited evil, which mi^ht be cured 
by an honest scientific study of History; but 
who is to undertake to contradict Patriarchs, 
Fathers, and monks who lived so long ago, 
and were so wise and virtuous ? Must not 
those who were capable of inflicting tortures 
and punishments on themselves, for their frail 
thoughts, be the best rulers and advisers of 
Humanity ? Is it possible that those can have 
done wrong who mercilessly chastised wrong 
in themselves ? The helpmates of Basil the 
Great and Gregory Nazianzen were John, 
who, for his eloquence, was called Chry- 
sostomos (meaning, literally, the golden- 
mouthed), Basil of Seleucia, and Theodoretus. 
Finally, we must mention : 
Cyril and ^4 Cyril, on account of the sad fate of 

Hypatia. _ > 

Hypatia, who was ins contemporary, and, 
though a woman, the last representative of 
Greek philosophy in Alexandria. This Cyril 
was the mighty instrument of God, who de- 
voted all his energies to the introduction of 
the worship of the Virgin Mary ; and a real 
Virgin — possessed of all the charms of the 
Greek Virgin-Goddess, Minerva — the cele- 
brated Hypatia, the daughter of Theon, a 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 479 

great mathematician, made the bishop's task 
an extremely onerous one. She diverted the 
thoughts of the believers, and distinguished 
herself, not only by reviving the pure philo- 
sophical doctrines of Plato and Aristotle, but 
was equally powerful in her comments on 
the learned and abstruse writings of Apollo- 
nius, the great geometrician. Whenever she 
lectured, long rows of chariots stood before 
the Academy, and the hall was crowded 
with the wealth and fashion of Alexandria. 
A woman threatened to detach the higher 
classes from the gloomy teachings of monks 
and priests. A woman was to pave the way 
for the heresies of a Nestorius and Eutvches, 
two infidels against whom Cyril exercised 
the whole of his dialectical energy. A 
woman was to ask the three enigmatic The three 
questions: " Where from?" "What for?"^; 
" Where to?" often asked in the not less questions. 
mysterious form : " What am I ? Where am 
I ? What can I know ? " 

The answers which this celebrated woman Hypatia 
attempted to give to these questions were J b . ewoman 
couched in the language of common sense, answer 
She was emotional and critical, and dis- them ' 
covered with intuitive geniality the great 
indisputable truth that the old Egyptian " I 
am I " mystery, applied to men, was not to 
be solved by priests and monks, but only by 
reason, and a recognition of man's true na- 
ture, and his real destiny on earth. Never bSwwm 
were bigotry and philosophy, fanaticism and bigotry 
cool reasoning, hatred and love, so terribly sophy. ° 



480 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

contrasted as in Cyril and Hypatia ! They 
could not possibly exist together ; they were 
as antagonistic as fire and water. Cyril felt 
this as the bigots and fanatics of all ages 
have felt and still feel. Cyril knew that 
either philosophy or bigotry must perish, 
and he acted on that feeling. He gathered 
round him a mob composed of monks and 
the scum of the population of Alexandria ; 
exhorted them to do their sacred duty and 
Hypatia, stamp out false learning ; and Hypatia, as 
the repre- g j e re paired to her Academy, was assaulted 

sentativeof --P . •/.' . 

reason,is by Cyril s pious mob, "stripped naked m 

malted ^ ie s ^ ree ^ dragged into a church, and there 

murdered, killed by the club of Peter the Reader. The 

corpse was cut to pieces, the flesh was 

scraped from the bones with shells, and the 

remnants cast into a fire." There was no 

authority which dared to call Cyril and his 

monks to account for this frightful crime. 

The diabolical theory, taught by priests and 

monks, that the end sanctified the means 

had silenced the voice of justice in the R,o- 

End of the man world. With Hypatia, the woman, the 

drian ar phi ^ ar ty r to Free Thought, Greek philosophy 

losophy. in Alexandria ended. 

The Latin We must now direct the attention of our 
the West 11 rea( iers to the Latin Fathers of the early 
Christian Church who principally influenced 
the West. 

Tertullian. 1. QuiNTUS SEPTIMUS FlORUS TeRTUL- 

lianus was born at Carthage, in Africa, 130 or 
160 a.d. He was well educated, and became 
an orator and lawyer. He was converted 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 481 

to the Christian faith, baptized, and made 
a presbyter in his native town. He first 
joined the sect of the Montanists (see page 
436), but soon separated himself from them. 
His works may generally be divided into His works, 
those written before he became a Montanist, 
and those which he composed as a member 
of that sect. u Ad Mar tyres" (On Martyrs) On 
was a work written to exhort believers to Mart > rs - 
perseverance, and a joyful hope of a better 
life in another world. In the u De Speeta- 
culis " (On Plays) he advises good Christians 0n Pla ys. 
not to attend public performances. Until 
lately Tertullian's prejudices have ruled su- 
preme in the minds of Dissenters and Puri- 
tans, Nonconformists and Methodists, in 
England and Scotland. Their preachers 
and teachers looked upon all plays, operas, 
and ballets as sinful, and seriously forbade 
believers to frequent theatres. Thus the 
genuine culture of the drama suffered, and 
vulgar Music Halls, or other places of amuse- 
ment, sprang up, and poisoned the moral 
atmosphere around the bigoted fanatics, far 
more than the stage could have done. Stu- 
dents of History cannot fail to observe that 
one-sided principles generally produce far 
greater evils than those which they intend 
to prevent or to remove. In u .De Idolatria" 
(On Idol Worship) Tertullian asserts that all On idol 
Astronomers, Sculptors, Mycologists, and Worshl P- 
Merchants, forced by their occupation to sup- 
port the worship of the Heathen gods, were 
themselves idolaters and servants of the u Evil 

2 i 



482 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

"The One." u Apologeticus adversus Genies y (The 
Apologist Apologist against the Gentiles) was his most 
GenSL" important work, and was written for the 
™g t hls express purpose of stopping the cruel persecu- 
important tions against the Christians. Another produc- 
work * tion of similar tendency, addressed " to the 
nations," was considered an extract from his 
on the larger work. u De Testimonio Anirnce^ (On 
XTui the Evidence of the Soul) is a philosophical 
dissertation to prove the existence of one 
true God from the innate sentiments of the 
His in- soul. Tertullian had an immense influence 
flaence on on fa Q Scholastics of the Mediaeval period. 
scholastics His writings are undoubtedly of a higher 
^reat VeiT standard than those of his contemporaries, 
who wrote in Greek. There is in his works 
a mixture of virtues and defects, of learning 
and ignorance, of piety and worldliness, 
which makes him appear on one page as 
the most profound scholar, whilst on an- 
other he exhibits the most hopeless super- 
stition and credulity. In writing a book, 
He wrote "Adversus Judceos" (Against the Jews) he 
jews St the undertook a difficult task, for he was not 
learned enough to cope with the Rabbis of 
his times. The Christian Theologians of that 
period laboured under the same disadvan- 
tages as those of the Middle Ages, and the 
majority of those of our own times. They 
knew nothing of the original language in 
which the Old Testament was written, and 
it was easy to show that they could not well 
discuss the contents of a book of which they 
were utterly ignorant ; because translations 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 483 

in sacred matters, whether authorized or 
not, can never give so true a meaning as an 
original. 

We pass over the works of Felix, Cyprian, 
Firmianus, Maternus, Commodianus, and 
Antonius, who wrote in verse and attempted 
a poetical treatment of religious contro- 
versies, but must more fully mention : 

2. Ambrose, who was celebrated for his Ambrose. 
two letters addressed to the Emperor Valen- 
tinian II., calling upon him not to permit 
Symmachus (see above) to construct an al- 
tar consecrated to the Goddess of Victory, 
and his six Books " On the Creation." Am- His work 
brose (Ambrosius) was of a noble Roman Creation. 
family, at first an official of the Empire, and 
afterwards Bishop of Milan. He was unlike 
the generality of priests ; for in assuming the 
bishop's mitre he lost a considerable part of 
his fortune; but he was always ready to 
sacrifice everything to his convictions. He 
was the very pattern of an ecclesiastical 
prince. No Sophist, or orator in the pulpit, His char- 
but a kind-hearted administrator, firm and ™lll* 8 a 
active, who said what he meant, and was 
firmly convinced that whatever he said, or 
wrote, was intended for the good of Hu- 
manity. He was one of those prelates of the 
Christian Church who dared to defy the lay 
power. He acted the same part in opposing 
Theodosius the Great, the Empress Justina, 
and the usurper Eugenius, which the ancient 
Jewish prophets had played against their 
despots. It was Ambrose who spread the 

2 i 2 



484 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Oriental principles of Gregory and Basil in 
the West ; though we must confess that he 
purified their ascetic and iconoclastic ten- 
dencies from all narrow-mindedness and 
monkish intolerance. In his works we may 
study to great advantage the transition of 
Transition the religious organization into the establish- 
froma me nt of feudalism ; a transition similar to 

relisious 

into a that which occurred in the sixteenth, seven- 
poiiticai teenth, and eighteenth centuries, when the 

state. -... -i -t • . • i 

mighty religious movement took a political 
direction, and men, freed from the fetters of 
religious tyranny, could no longer bear the 
oppression of the lay power in political 
matters. This action sometimes shows itself 
in an inverted order. The Germans first 
freed themselves from the Church, and are 
only now about to work out their political 
independence ; whilst the English first at- 
tained their political freedom, and only now 
begin to throw off the influence of cleri- 
calism, and attempt to free their educational 
institutions, especially those for the higher 
classes, from a baneful theological bias. It 
is most interesting to compare the writings of 
Ambrose Ambrose with those of Cicero " On Morals." 
and Cicero The former sees everything in a Christian, the 
latter everything in a philosophical light ; yet 
we become convinced that both strive to at- 
tain one and the same end, on widely differ- 
ing roads, by widely differing means. The 
Christian Hierarch preaches passive submis- 
sion, mercy, and virtue ; and the Roman 
Philosopher enjoins active energy, self-con- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 485 

scious conviction, and virtuous honesty. The 
divergence lies in the question, whether the 
emotional, or the intellectual in man, tem- 
pered by morality, is to rule supreme. The 
ancient philosophers started with inquiry; 
the Christian Fathers with Faith. Ambrose 
insists, above all, on "Faith," a word that "Faith" 
still rules seven-eighths of humanity with its ^sTS 
mysterious charm. The models which he Ambrose, 
used were the writings of Origen, of the 
Jew Philo, and of Basil the Great. He was 
the first to distinguish between the historical He was the 
and doctrinal parts of the Old and New distinguish 
Testament. The historical parts he treated between 
philosophically and poetically. In his works ca i and 
we possess the first germs of a more rea- d °^ n ^ 1 
sonable consideration of religious matters, the Bible. 
Ambrose served to excite a powerful activity 
in poetry, painting, sculpture and music. 
His allegorical treatment of the Old Testa- 
ment abounded in the most ingenious sug- 
gestions. Abraham was to him the emblem introduces 
of Faith ; Isaac, the pure human soul, united allegorical 
to the infinite Spirit of God ; and Jacob, tions^ 
the very pattern of patience and persever- 
ance in adversity and hard work. Such 
figures could be painted or worked in reliefs. 
He saw in Rachel, the younger of Jacob's 
wives, the symbol of a passive, and in Leah 
the symbol of an active life. Passiveness 
and activity thus became embodied, just as 
the forces of nature assumed forms in the 
ancient gods and goddesses ; with this dif- 
ference, however, that, whilst with the Greeks 



488 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

and Romans the divine types were limited, 

the subjects taken from the Old and New 

Testament, from Nature and Humanity, now 

asserted their right to representation in their 

unlimited variety, always conveying some 

thought or idea. This tendency opened the 

whole fancy-wrought pictorial and poetical 

world, and art was never lost in the West, 

notwithstanding the efforts of an iconoclastic 

spirit in the East, and in the North- West of 

Ambrose Europe, during the Reformation. Ambrose 

dueedT ° na( i another great merit : he was the first to 

music into introduce sacred music during the celebration 

churches. i ,i t • • tt* 

oi mass and other religious ceremonies. His- 
torians must give him credit for having laid 
the foundations of the architectural, pictorial, 
sculptural, and musical arts, which became 
mighty factors in the progressive development 
of the Western Christian world. 
Augustine. 3. Aurelius Augustinus (Augustine) is the 
third of the Latin fathers who gave Chris- 
tianity an entirely new dialectical and theo- 
logical shape. His ideas, dreams, vagaries, 
visions, prejudices and superstitions still 
sway the Christian priests of all denomina- 
tions in the West. He was born 354 a.d., at 
His father, Tageste, in Numidia. His father, Patricius, 
and^is 8 ' was a heathen, and his mother, Monica, a 
mother, Christian, so that in his parents we see 
heathenism and Christianity blended. He 
received his first mental culture from the 
First study of the classic Roman writers, especially 
studies Vi r gil. He settled at Carthage, where he led 
a reckless, licentious, and immoral life; 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 487 

he was reformed through the study of u Hor- 
tensius" by Cicero (a book which has been Then 
lost), and Aristotle's Philosophy. He then f*Xt\t 
joined the sect of the Manicheans (see page 
434), and went to Rome, where he intended 
to teach rhetoric, which he afterwards did 
with great success at Milan. Here he made 
the acquaintance of Ambrose, who instructed 
him in the tenets of orthodox Christianity. 
He quitted the Manicheans, and became their He left 
most violent antagonist, though he retained f e t h e 
many of their mystic tenets, which he, how- M ani- 
ever, brought into a different shape. He de- c eans * 
voted himself thenceforth to an exclusive study 
of Plato, whose writings he used for the pur- studies 
pose of constructing his philosophical system Plat0 * 
of Christian Theology. The influence of his 
works on the culture and History of Human- 
ity in the West was unbounded. His ideas His in- 
inspired the dissertations and controversies m ^? c b e e 
between Abelard and Bernhard in the twelfth traced 
century a.d. His refined theories are still ouTown 
the cause of the dissensions between Calvin- times - 
ists and Lutherans. The struggle between 
the Jansenists and Jesuits was principally 
called forth by his ideas on abstruse subjects, 
and he indirectly promoted the outburst of 
the sanguinary revolution in France, towards 
the end of the last century. Augustine, hav- 
ing lost his illegitimate son, whom he called 
"Deodatus" (given by God), retired into soli- 
tude, and became a monk, after having distri- 
buted his patrimony amongst the poor. He 
now fervently devoted himself to the study of 



488 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

the Gospels and the writings of St. Paul. He 

attacked with intense vigour the Manicheans, 

Donatists, and, above all, the Pelagians, fol- 

Peiagius lowers of Pelagius, a British monk, who taught 

and the "that death was not introduced into the 

relagians. ■,■,-. •, • p * i i ii ,i 

world by the sm of Adam, but that, on the 
contrary, man was necessarily and by nature 
mortal, and had Adam not sinned he would 
nevertheless have died; that the consequences 
of Adam's sin were confined to himself, and 
did not affect his posterity. From these 
premises Pelagius drew certain important 
theological conclusions." 
Augustine For these opinions Augustine denounced 
PetgTus a Pelagius as a heretic. Historians will find 
heretic, in this quarrel between the wild and passion- 
germs of ate African monk and the cool and rational 
the Refor- British priest the germs of the Reformation. 
The conflict between these two professors of 
the same religion increased, and a synod 
Diversity held at Diospolis acquitted Pelagius of 
on?ek- n heresy. Pope Innocent I., on the contrary, 
s ius - condemned him. The next Pope, Zosimus, 
on the other hand, declared the opinions of 
Pelagius to be perfectly orthodox. We have 
a saint, and a great authority in theological 
matters, a synod and two Popes, all disagree- 
ing, quarrelling, and disputing; each clearly 
proving to his own satisfaction his infalli- 
bility in spiritual matters, but demonstrating 
to the satisfaction of the historical world his 
melancholy fallibility, for they were all finally 
compelled to have recourse to the lay power. 
The crafty Augustine, with the other African 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 489 

bishops, through the influence of Count Yale- inter- 
rius, procured an edict from the Emperor, ^ r e e ^ a ce . of 
denouncing Pelagius as a heretic, contrary power. 
to the ruling of the Pope. He and his ad- 
herents were condemned to exile, with the 
forfeiture of all their worldly goods. To 
affirm that there were Pre- Adamites, or that 
there was death in the world before Adam, 
was declared by the State a political crime, 
liable to proscription and forfeiture of pro- 
perty. In this case Synod and Pope showed Conflict 
themselves more liberal than the Emperor PopTand 
and some sectarian priests. Students of the Emperor. 
Fathers, especially of the writings of Justin, 
Origen, Cyprian, and Tertullian must be 
struck by the absence of the doctrines of 
original sin, total depravity, predestination, 
grace, temptation, fall, and atonement. We 
are indebted for all these disputable topics to 
Augustine, the Carthaginian. The Church Augustine, 
having adopted his views, and the lay power an ^ th g rc 
having lent its strong arm to prove the cor- lay-power. 
rectness of his theological assertions, which, 
in opposition to the highest ecclesiastical 
authority, it pronounced infallible; the Chris- 
tian world could do nothing but bow down 
in humble devotion, and submit to the wild 
and fantastic dogmas of this monk. The 
more we study History, the more we find, 
that the effects of intellectual activity in 
Humanity must in the end be beneficial to 
our uninterrupted progress. Church and 
State may check and misdirect men's intel- 
lectual power, but the force which has been 



490 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

hampered in its free movement will burst 
forth with an energy increased in proportion 
to the strength of the counteracting element. 
Science The doctrines declared to be orthodox by 
Orthodoxy. P a P a ^ an( ^ imperial authority, and by eccle- 
siastical and criminal laws, have been over- 
thrown by a silently working power, mani- 
fested in our sciences and discoveries. We 
now know as an indisputable fact that thou- 
sands of different species, and even genera of 
living creatures, have passed away; that 
millions and millions of human beings must 
have lived and died long before Adam was 
created. They have left us their flint wea- 
pons, pottery, and carvings on ivory blades. 
We have collected the ashes of the fires 
which they kindled, and mingled with their 
bones we have found those of animals extinct 
in Europe long before the Scriptural Adam 
could have appeared on the earth in its pre- 
sent condition. The Book of Genesis, it 
must be remembered, describes our earth 
only in its actual post-tertiary formation, and 
in its chronology does not go so far back as 
the Egyptian, Chinese, Assyrian, or Baby- 
lonish records, which all prove that long 
rows of dynasties ruled and passed away be- 
fore the period in which the Scriptural Adam 
is assumed to have brought " original sin" 
into the world. It was in vain that Church 
and State tried to conform astronomy, geo- 
logy, geography, anthropology, and chro- 
Science nologv to the Jewish records and Augustine's 

and Scrip- _ w . & , 

ture. theological teachings. We know that the 



TEE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 491 

sun does not move round the earth ; that the 
sky is not a fixed dome, or, as Augustine 
tells us, stretched out like a skin ; that the 
earth was not created out of nothing, unless 
nothing means something, as has been most 
learnedly asserted ; that there is no below to 
our above, since our above is the below of our 
antipodes ; that the earth is not the central 
and most important body of the universe; 
that the earth could not have been created 
in six days ; that it is not a flat, serv- 
ing as a footstool to the Deity ; that Adam 
was not the first man made of the dust 
of the earth ; that the whole chronology 
of the learned in the Scriptures is a mere idle 
fabrication of some Rabbis and Bishops, who 
knew nothing of History. 

To give our readers an insight into the Some 
mode of thinking, studying, arguing and f^ 863 
believing introduced by Augustine, we will Augus- 
quote some passages from his remarks on the « confea- 
first chapter of Genesis, as contained in the sions." 
eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth books of his 
" Confessions." Augustine begins by pray- 
ing " that God will give him to understand 
the Scriptures, and will open their meaning 
to him ;" he declares "that in them there is 
nothing superfluous, but that the words have 
a manifold meaning." We feel compelled to Pride ' m 
observe that this apparent humility of theo- pray 
logians imperfectly veils an inordinate pride. 
Augustine prays to God to be enabled to 
understand the Scriptures ; then he gives 
utterance to his opinions, and the world has 



492 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

to take it for granted that God has listened 
to his prayer. God must have enlightened 
him, and everything he chooses to assert in 
an unscientific and confused manner, must, in 
fact, have been written under God's holy 
Inspiration. 

Augustine having prayed, and obtained 
the necessary aid, begins to argue, appa- 
rently contradicting himself in every line, in 
order to express all possible doubts, and to 
crush them victoriously with his theological 
eloquence. This is the method generally 
used by a certain class of writers, and can 
only deceive ignorant men and emotional 
women, who do not think for themselves. 
" The face of creation," says Augustine, 
" testifies that there has been a Creator ; but 
at once arises the question, How and when 
did He make heaven and earth ? They 
The world could not have been made in heaven and 
world the ear th> the world could not have been made 
in the world, nor could they have been made 
when there was nothing to make them of." 
The solution of this fundamental inquiry 
Augustine finds in saying, " Thou spakest, 
and they were made." 

The difficulty is by no means at an end. 
Some more " Augustine goes on to remark that the 
difficulties. S yVj a ])i es ^hus uttered by God came forth in 

succession, and there must have been some 
created thing to express the words. This 
created thing must, therefore, have existed 
before heaven and earth, and yet there could 
, have been no corporeal thing before heaven 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 493 

and earth. It must have been a creature, 
because the words passed away and came to 
an end ; but we know that the word of the 
Lord endureth for ever." Such forms of argu- 
ment are still practised in nearly all religious 
circles. Something wholly senseless is ut- 
tered, and a passage from Scripture is then 
quoted at random, which shows even more 
glaringly the absurdity of the statements 
made, and yet the quotation is supposed to 
silence all antagonists. The dialectical 
subtlety of Augustine becomes more appa- 
rent when he goes on to argue thus : — 
" Moreover, it is plain that the words thus Lu f dity 
spoken could not have been spoken succes- tine's 8US 
sively, but simultaneously, else there would &T ^ waienta ' 
have been time and change, succession in 
its nature implying time, whereas there was 
then nothing but eternity and immortality. 
God knows and says eternally what takes 
place in time." " Augustine then defines, not 
without much mysticism, what is meant bv T . he d ^" 

. , . ■'-. r f-J , T , ., J tion of the 

the opening words ot Genesis, 'In the be- words "in 
ginning.' He is guided to his conclusion by n ^ b » gm " 
another Scriptural passage: 'How wonder- 
ful are thy works, O Lord : in wisdom hast 
thou made them all.' This ' wisdom ' is ' the 
beginning,' and in that beginning the Lord 
created heaven and earth." 

"But," he adds, "some one may ask, Some 
* What was God doing before He made the difficulties. 
heaven and the earth ? ' for, if at any par- 
ticular moment He began to emplov Him- ^hat™ 

1/t ,-, . . . ° . r , J T God doing 

sell, that means time, not eternity. In before He 



494 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

made eternity nothing transpires ; the whole is 

^ Y ^ rth? present." In answering this question, he 
cannot forbear one of those touches of rhetoric 
for which he was so celebrated : "I will not 
answer this question by saying that He was 

Preparing preparing hell for pryers into His mysteries. 

heii-fire. I sa y that, before God made heaven and 
earth, He did not make anything; for no 
creature could be made before any creature 
was made. Time itself is a creature, and 
hence it could not possibly exist before cre- 

What is ation. What, then, is time ? The past is 

Neither" ? no ^ ^ ne future * s no % the present — who can 

"past" nor tell what it is, unless it be that which has no 

e ' duration between two nonentities ? There 

is no such thing as ' a long time,' or ' a short 

time,' for there are no such things as the 

Tl ™ , past and the future. They have no existence, 

exists only L . ., -, ,, * ' 

in the soul, except m the soul/ 7 

Such incoherent, rhapsodical assertions as 
these have been looked upon as learned dis- 
quisitions on scientific subjects for more than 
fifteen hundred years. To trace the cause of 
this effect, with all its beneficial and perni- 
cious results, is the task which Historians 
Historians have to accomplish. Let any unbiassed mind 
mi r St th° m " com P are such half-theological, half-scientific, 
writings dialectical, and sophistical utterances with 
erf the th ° se ^ ne wrings of a Cicero, a Seneca, or even 
Greeks and the most abstruse Greek philosophers, and he 
omans. mus £ see on wn ich side learning, reason, and 
honest inquiry are to be found. We might 
quote the whole of Augustine's works to 
prove that in their entirety they are nothing 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 495 

but arrogant conversations between the writer 
and an assumed God, of his own creation. 
There was some method in his madness, 
however, to discover which, stimulated man's 
thinking faculty into action. We will quote 
another passage from the Twelfth Book : 

" This, then, is what I conceive, O my a passage 
God, when I hear the Scripture saying, ' In J™^ 6 
the beginning God made heaven and earth: book of his 
and the earth was invisible and without form, l'-£ o n ? s " 
and darkness was upon the deep,' and not 
mentioning what day thou createdst them ; 
this is what I conceive, that because of the 
heaven of heavens — that intellectual heaven, An intei- 
whose intelligences know all at once, not in heaven. 
part, not darkly, not through a glass, but as a 
whole, in manifestation, face to face ; not this 
thing now, and that thing anon; but (as I 
said) know all at once, without any succession 
of times ; and because of the earth, invisible The earth 
and without form, without any succession of ^dSn- 
times, which succession presents this i thing out form. 
now, that thing anon, because, where there 
is no form there is no distinction of things ; 
it is, then, on account of these two, a primi- a primi- 
tive formed, and a primitive formless; the formed and 
one, heaven, but the heaven of heavens: the a primitive 
other, earth, but the earth movable and with- orm e£ 
out form ; because of these two do I conceive 
did the Scripture say, without mention of 
days, ' In the beginning God created the 
heaven and the earth.' For, forthwith it 
subjoined what earth it spake of; and also in 
that the firmament is recorded to be created 



496 



THE SCIENCE OP HISTORY. 



Admires 
the won- 
drous 
depths of 
God. 

Prays that. 
God should 
slay the 
enemies 
with a two- 
edged 
sword. 

False rea- 
soning. 



A passage 
from the 
thirteenth 
hook of his 
" Confes- 
sions." 
The Trini- 
ty in the 
writings 
of Moses. 
The 

Trinity in 
a glass. 



the second day, and called heaven, it con- 
veys to us of which heaven He before spake, 
without mention of days. Wondrous depth 
of Thy words ! whose surface, behold ! is be- 
fore us, inviting to little ones ; yet are they 
a wondrous depth, my God, a wondrous 
depth ! It is awful to look therein ; an 
awfulness of honour and a trembling of love. 
The enemies, therefore, I hate vehemently ; 
that Thou wouldst slay them with Thy 
two-edged sword, that they might no longer 
be enemies to it ; for so do I love to have 
them slain unto themselves, that they may 
live unto Thee ! " 

Readers can scarcely need a further proof 
of that false reasoning, which was taken for 
the very highest attainment of human learn- 
ing in divine matters. Science was scorned, 
but some shreds of casuistic dialectics were 
borrowed to lend to these religious ramblings 
a learned covering. The barefaced stupidity, 
the heartless pride, the insolent arrogance, 
and the implacable hatred, however, show 
their monstrous forms through these rhetorical 
subtleties, that have held, and still hold, a 
great part of humanity in devout bodily awe 
and spiritual submission, 

Augustine, in the Thirteenth Book of his 
" Confessions," touches the grand Mystery of 
Mysteries, the " Trinity," and proves it to 
be contained in the Mosaic narrative of the 
Creation. 

" Lo, now the Trinity appears unto me 
in a glass darkly, which is Thou, my God, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 497 

because Thou, Father, in Him who is the 
beginning of our wisdom, which is Thy 
wisdom, born of Thyself, equal unto Thee 
and co-eternal, that is, in Thy Son, createdst 
heaven and earth. Much now have we said 
of the heaven of heavens, and of the earth, 
invisible and without form, and of the dark- 
some deep, in reference to the wandering 
instability of its spiritual deformity, unless it 
had been converted unto Him, from whom 
it had its then degree of life, and by His 
enlightening became a beauteous life, and 
the heaven of that heaven, which was after- 
ward set between water and water. And 
under the name of God, I now held the 
Father, who made these things ; and under 
the name of the beginning, the Son, in 
whom He made these things ; and believing 
as I did, my God as the Trinity, I searched 
further in His holy words, and lo ! Thy 
Spirit moved upon the waters. Behold the 
Trinity, my God ! — Father, and Son, and 
Holy Ghost, Creator of all Creation ! " Suchworks 

These two quotations are from Dr. Pusey's "^j^a ™ t ~ 
translation, contained in vol. i. of the Oxford, the 
" Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic g^ 
Church,' 7 published at Oxford, 1840. learning! 

For contrast's sake, we will quote from a passage 
the Indian " Eamayana," an Epic poem, ™^£ 
imbued, like everything Indian, with deep from the 
religious feelings, lofty thoughts, and sublime i?^ m ? 

o fc> 7 J fe> 1 Kamayana. 

elevations ox the mind, and we leave our 
readers to judge which of the two discourses 
on the Trinity they would prefer. 

2 K 



498 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

The Ramayana, meaning the deeds of 
Kama, who was the seventh incarnation of 
the second person of the Trinity, was writ- 
ten about 1200 B.C., according to Dr. Graesse, 
by Valmikis, in 24,000 double verses. The 
poem treats of the heroic deeds of Rama, 
who, like Krishna, long before him, or Osiris, 
amongst the Egyptians, or Jesus, amongst 
the Christians, though God Himself, assumed 
human form to save mankind. The Ram&- 
vana may be compared to the " Iliad " of 
Homer. The symmetry is not the same as 
in the Greek poem, for the mystic and mar- 
vellous predominate, as they do in all Indian 
works ; but the mystic is at least clothed in 
a beautiful poetical garb, and does not as- 
sume the apparel of prosaic science. 

In the Kamayana no proud monk talks to 
the Deity ; indirectly threatening all who 
might dare to pry into these mysteries with 
hell-fire, whilst he thinks himself authorized 
to commit the self-same indiscretion; but the 
gods are assembled in heaven, and offer to 
the incomprehensible First Cause the follow- 
ing humble address : — 

" O Thou, whom threefold might and splendour veil, 
Maker, Preserver, and Transformer, hail ! 
Thy gaze surveys this world from clime to clime, 
Thyself immeasurable in space and time : 
To no corrupt desires, no passions prone : 
TJnconquered conqueror, infinite, unknown ; 
Though in one form Thou veil'st Thy might divine, 
Still, at Thy pleasure, every form is Thine. 
Pure crystals thus prismatic hues assume, 
As varying lights and varying tints illume ; 
Men think Thee absent ; Thou art ever near, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 499 

Pitying those sorrows which Thou ne'er canst fear. 
Unsordid penance Thou alone canst pay ; 
Unchanged, unchanging — old without decay : 
Thou knowest all things — who Thy praise can state 1 
Createdst all things — Thyself uncreate ! " 

What a difference in language, purity, and 
simplicity of conception ! The three in one 
with the Indian poet is the Universe, in 
which the eternal phenomena of Creation, 
Preservation, and Transformation have been 
proceeding from eternity in space and time, 
and will continue to eternity. Yet the In- 
dian writer and his commentators did not 
create, with their lofty thoughts, that mighty 
spiritual life which the writings of Augustine 
produced. He placed religion and science 
in so palpable an antagonism that uncon- 
sciously man's scepticism and spirit of 
inquiry were aroused by his writings. 

The great qualities of the Fathers, Contro- The great 
versialists, and Casuists of the Mediaeval ^ l e allties of 
Christian Church were : Fathers, 

1. That they endeavoured to be scientific, SaSsta wid 
though they opposed science. Casuists 

2. That they continually used the Greek christian 
philosophical and historical writers, though Church. 
they declared them profane and heretical. 

3. That they wrote in Latin, and thus 
kept up the knowledge of the language of 
Cicero, Csesar, Tacitus, Pliny, Seneca, &c. 

4. That in cursing and abusing 1 nature, 
they directed the attention of mankind to a 
systematic study of nature. 

5. That they used the records of the Jews, 

2 k 2 



500 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

and by this means blended the Oriental and 
the Western modes of thinking, 

6. That they fostered mysticism, which led 
to the study of psychology and physiology. 

7. That they preached love, and practised 
implacable hatred; and thus kept man's emo- 
tional and intellectual powers in continual 
action and reaction. 

8. That they introduced a controversial 
spirit into theology, which stimulated man's 
mental activity. 

Augus- All these elements are found in Augustine's 

"'city of great work, " Be Civitate Dei, Libri XXII." 
God.'' (The " City of God,'' in twenty-two books), 
written in imitation of Plato's " State," as- 
suming that mankind may be divided into 
two principal groups ; such as have mere 
carnal ideas and are damned, and such as 
live in the spirit and must be saved. Augus- 
tine thus assumed two States existing in the 
world, of which the one would perish in the 
general conflagration on the day of judgment. 
Of this perishable State, the Devil was supreme 
ruler ; it was based on Egotism and a con- 
tempt of God. The other he asserted to be 
a heavenly State, in which God is King ; the 
State itself based on Love to God and con- 
tempt of our ownselveSo The phenomenal or 
visible world was with Augustine a realm of 
sin, in opposition to a world of Faith and 
blissfulness, of purity and eternal salvation. 
According to Augustine, Reality was corrupt, 
and he left it a prey to the lay power, which 
by degrees began to feel its strength ; and the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 501 

struggle between Pope and Emperor, the 
Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the 
Devil, began. The conflict lasted for a thou- 
sand years, and ended in our Century with 
the abolition of the Temporal Power of the 
Pope. Augustine, in his " City of God," Every 
condemns all worldly endeavour or activity ™^ ur 
as sinful; he establishes a spiritual govern- sinful. 
ment over all earthly matters, and settles 
all moral, dogmatic, and scientific subjects 
from a theological point of view. What Pliny 
the Elder (see page 379) endeavoured in 
writing his " History of Nature," Augustine 
tried to accomplish in his " City of God." 
His aim was to exhaust all earthly and 
heavenly occurrences ; and as he knew very 
little of this earth, he undoubtedly succeeded 
far better in his treatment of heavenly and 
infernal matters. Rome was to him the real 
model of a State governed by the Devil. 
Utterly incapable of seeing "law" anywhere, 
he saw everywhere "predestination," or "spe- 
cial grace." Man was looked upon by him Man a 
as a puppet with a mighty divine wire-puller j^Jet. 
behind him ; and History, enacted by such 
puppets, could be nothing but an incoherent 
pantomine, in which the scientific men were 
the clowns, and the theologians the managers 
directing the wire-puller, the puppets, and 
continually preparing "the last transforma- 
tion scene," illumined with electric lights 
and Roman candles. In spite of all his 
dreams and visions, Augustine is sometimes 
far in advance of his times, and dimly sees 



502 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

some connection between cause and effect, 
though his cause is always given in a theo- 
logical form, all effects being degraded to 
chance hand - maids of some supernatural 
power. The working of such ideas can be 
very clearly distinguished in certain excla- 
mations used by children in our own time. 
The spirit In England, where the spirit of Augustine 
ofAugus- s ^]} ru l es? i n spite of Anglicanism and a 

England, variety of denominations, a child on breaking 
something, or doing wrong, will protest, 
" Please, I could not help it;" a French 
child will say, u Forgive me ; I will not do it 
again ; n and a German boy or girl will ex- 
claim, " How stupid of me ! " 

In England the masses, no matter of what 
denomination, are still more or less under 
priestly sway. Notwithstanding the develop- 
ment of individual freedom, and the pos- 
session of certain political rights by all, a 
neglected and one-sided education has left the 
people as they were in the Middle Ages with 
regard to spiritual matters; and predestina- 
tion, grace, eternal punishment, hell-fire, and 
the existence of the devil are still seriously 
discussed. The people still think that some 
self-conscious power, in the Jewish sense, 
gives them food and raiment, or punishes 
them with wars, famine, or bad weather. 
In France the Encyclopaedists changed this 
mode of thinking, and Augustine has no 
more influence, for Abelard already de- 
nounced " the great Science of Universals,' 5 
through which men thought to know the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 503 

inner essence of all things, " as the result of 
mere grammatical gambols made by mean- 
ingless phrases and periods." The Germans, 
through their philosophers and historians, 
have learned to acknowledge the deep wisdom 
of the ancient maxim of Confucius: " The a maxim 
wise man seeks the cause of his defects in ft, c ius!" 
himself; but the fool, avoiding himself, seeks 
it in all others beside himself." The bigoted 
and uneducated people look for redress, in 
proud humbleness and blind faith, from any 
force or power without, and not within them- 
selves, and by this means fall an easy prey 
to their ecclesiastical or political task masters. 
Historians will find a certain action and re- 
action continually at work. It is either 
" despotism " in a thousand different forms, 
assuming the incompetence of the masses to 
govern themselves, that plays at " provi- 
dence;" or it is "clericalism," which, in 
accordance with Augustine, builds up "a 
higher State " in unapproachable regions, 
where archangels, angels, saints, confessors, 
and clergymen rule supreme, in opposition 
to this world, in which the masses are misled 
by devils, demons, infidels, unbelievers, and 
philosophers, but, worst of all, by scientific 
men, who dare to pry into the " wonderful" 
and " awful" mysteries of God. 

The historical development of modern 
Europe, based on these vague and intangible 
assumptions, by degrees took two divergent 
roads, both leading to freedom. The Teutons Teutons 
(English, Germans, Dutch, Danes, Swedes, Latins. 



504 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Norwegians) sought the solution of man's 
destiny on the path of practical, social, and 
political freedom, and scientific research, 
tempered by deep religious or philosophical 
feelings ; whilst the Latins (Italians, French, 
Spaniards, and Portuguese) trusting in an 
unknown supernatural power, worked out 
their progress in poetry, arts, and politics by 
violent convulsions of a sanguinary nature, 
because they had learned to look upon their 
antagonists, whether in religious or political 
matters, as incarnate devils, whom it would 
be a meritorious action to annihilate, or " to 
slay with the Lord's two-edged sword." 
Throughout the whole of the Mediaeval period 
these two conflicting elements, the Super- 
natural and Natural, Grod and Nature, Man 
and Devil, may be traced in politics, religion, 
arts, and poetry, down to Milton's " Paradise 
Lost," in which God and Satan fight for the 
dominion of the Universe. Still more im- 
pressively may Historians make themselves 
acquainted with the spirit of our own times 
The "Con- in comparing the " Confessions" of Augus- 
of S lu nS u " tine, the theologian, with those of Rousseau, 
tine com- the politician. In both they will find the 
those of lth same essence of fanatical intolerance and 
Rousseau, authoritative dogmatism. These two writers, 
of entirely different ages and intellectual 
spheres, have so much in common that we 
can only explain these analogous effects by 
endeavouring to trace their analogous causes. 
The two agree and yet disagree ; they start 
from altogether different premises 3 yet they 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 505 

come to the same results. Professor Schlosser, 
in his " Universal History/' has clearly 
pointed out the analogies and differences 
between the two, and we cannot do better 
than base our own remarks on some of his 
annotations. 

Augustine gives us a precise history of 
his own inner life, and traces the origin 
of his conversion, in order to extol the 
Christian religion, which he adopted. Rous- 
seau does the same ; but in tracing the 
phases through which he passed until 
he left Christianity and became a sceptic 
philosopher, he tells us the causes that in- 
duced him to think differently on matters 
divine and human. The first looks upon History 
History as something utterly indifferent, and ^f hing 
far beneath the dignity of his consideration. Rousseau. 
He is convinced that in all historical matters History 
God and predestination are doing what is ^5 lng 
right, and that no amount of study and know- Augustine. 
ledge can change what has been ordained by 
God to happen, whether in politics or in every 
man's private life. This conviction still pre- 
vents the study of General History in all our 
educational establishments. Like the Italians 
Guicciardini and Vico, before him, Rousseau 
clearly saw the necessity for the study of 
History, and like the Germans, Herder and 
Lessing, strongly asserted that it shapes even 
the destiny of single individuals. Rousseau 
assigned to History the greatest import- 
ance, and often considered an anecdote, 
characteristic of the spirit of the times, 



506 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

of greater value than his own opinions. 
Whilst Rousseau often misunderstood His- 
tory and his own nature and character, we 
cannot deny that Augustine thoroughly 
grasped the differences between love and 
concupiscence, vanity and humility, freedom 
Sceptics and slavery, content and discontent. It is 

Moralists un q ues ti° na bl e that the melancholy Sceptic, 
who doubts his own existence, is far more 
miserable than the emotional moralist, who, 
like a child, relying on his father, eats 
and drinks and makes merry, because there 
is one who will pay the bill without his 
troubling himself about it. Augustine and 
his followers could not, and cannot see, that 
this is merely a revival of the old Stoic and 
Epicurean principles, intermixed with Jewish 
and Christian religious notions, forming a 
complicated system of Ethics, which may be 
pleasing and most comfortable to the un- 
thinking masses, but can in no way satisfy 
the thinking and reasoning philosopher. 
Rousseau keenly felt this, and confessed it 
to the world at large. Exposing the suffer- 
ings he had to undergo to free himself from 
a false system of morals, Augustine confessed 
his struggles to a self-created God, whom he 
conceived as extremely pliable, indulgent, 
and forgiving, at least to himself. He tells 
Distinction this God that he has often been u inebriated," 
inebriety but never "drunk ;" and asserts drunkenness 
and to be a " deadly sin," unpardonable in the 

3n " eyes of God; whilst " inebriety " is a mere 
" venial sin," which he hopes God will 



ness. 



THE SCIENCE OP HISTORY. 507 

kindly forgive him. Rousseau is full of atti- 
tudinizing pride and vanity; whilst Augus- 
tine is rich in pious humility, hiding his far 
greater pride and vanity. Both are incom- 
prehensible and rhetorical, where we should 
expect a genuine and natural elevation of the 
mind, and true grandeur of thought. Both Both are 
are clever dialectical rope-dancers ; they Dis- 
balance themselves alternately with their ticians. 
heads or their hearts : Rousseau insisting on 
the superiority of the head ; Augustine on 
the exclusive power of the heart. Both wrote 
in an inflated style; both delighted in sar- 
casm — the one attacking sinful naturalness ; 
the other an artificial system that had de- 
stroyed all genuine nature in man, and 
corrupted the very mode of thinking in 
Humanity. To illustrate this assertion, stu- 
dents can compare what these two writers 
say on Education. Augustine, the grand Augustine 
inventor and propagator of the blasphemous R d usseau 
theory of u Original Sin," who heard inonEduca- 
the first cry of a new-born child a heart- tl0n ' 
rending lament over the sinfulness of this 
world, and Rousseau, who can find no fault 
with anything nature has done, both describe 
the system of education of their times as 
utterly wrong. Both agree in condemning 
the severity with which they had been 
treated — the blows and floggings which they 
had received to make them learn useless so- 
called sciences. Both had to work hard at 
classics, mathematics, and philosophy* Augus- 
tine insists upon faith and piety, prayers and 



508 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



contemplation as the only means to conquer 
our sunken nature. Rousseau demands prac- 
tical sciences, technical skill, anything that 
will strengthen the inventive and reasoning 
faculty in man. Both, again, agree that the 
young ought to be made acquainted with 
truth ; unhappily this word has so many 
relative significations, and cannot be grasped 
by finite beings in its absolute sense. They 
both wish intellect to be cultivated ; the one 
that it may see the glories of the heavens, 
and the other to improve man's earthly hap- 
piness. Both are equally blind to the fact 
that only in a perfectly harmonious culture 
of imagination and reason, of heart and head, 
of morals and intellect, can an approximate 
solution of our destiny be found. 

Augustine should be read side by side with 



Augustine 

readlide 6 Rousseau; but we must be careful not to 

by side 

with 

Rousseau. 



take the sayings of either for dogmatic truths 
and mathematical rules of life. Many of 
their guesses at the causes of evil, rampant 
amongst us, are true ; but they are mere sug- 
gestions thrown out, according to the spirit 
of the times in which both lived. Augustine 
is the Alpha of a theologico-philosophical sys- 
tem that swayed Humanity to its detriment 
for more than a thousand years, and Rous- 
seau is its Omega. They both advocated a 
peculiar method of salvation, which led to 
the same results; they both robbed Hu- 
manity of every higher aim; the one in 
destroying all self-reliance, the other in des- 
pairing of the possible solution of the prob- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 509 

lem wlii cli he had set himself to solve. 
Both, in preaching Faith and common sense, Analogous 
hope and practical reason, charity, and free- j:^ 1 of 
dom and equality, produced bloodshed, ha- teachings. 
tred. despair, despotism, and political and 
religious persecution. The forces working in 
Humanity were disturbed by both, because 
they started with preconceived ideas ; the 
one with an " Original Sin," the other with 
"the purity of nature;" both powerfully 
impressed those whom they addressed, and 
both failed to readjust the balance be- 
tween morals and intellect. Hundreds of 
thousands of human sacrifices were offered 
to the two creeds, and both have remained 
a dead letter. Man, instead of studying man 
in his historical development, studied him 
from an entirely false and imaginary theolo- 
gical point of view. Before ever man entered False 
this world he was assumed to have been ere- *. S8um P- 
ated for evil, and the whole of his earthly 
pilgrimage was to be simply a dim attempt to 
make himself worthy of an atonement under- 
taken by God to remove His curse. That, 
in the face of such ideas, the progress of 
Humanity, socially, religiously, politically, 
and scientifically, was very slow is proved 
by the Annals and Chronicles of the next 
thousand years, during which the Teutons 
began to play the principal part in Mediaeval 
History. 

Before we conclude this chapter we must Some 
refer to some Jewish writers who exercised a Je ?; l8h 

"writ Gr^ 

great influence on the History of mankind. 



510 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

The Jews never achieved much in the more 
serious branches of Literature. Their Sacred 
Books — the Old Testament, the Talmud, and 
the Cabala — contained the collective know- 
ledge of the eternal God, the Prophets, and 
of all the great Philosophers of all the na- 
tions that ever had existed and would exist. 
Such a notion with reference to a few Books, 
which, after all, formed only one Book, made 
historical or scientific writers impossible. 
Criticism The critical and sceptical elements were 
ticfsmwFth altogether excluded from the intellectual 
the Jews, sphere of the Jews, and yet they became the 
best teachers of scepticism and the best 
critics in the world. With them every one 
who dared to differ from Moses and the Pro- 
phets was a blasphemer. They were, how- 
ever, permitted to differ from all other pro- 
fane writers of whatever nation ; and in 
endeavouring to prove their Scriptures to 
be the only true records, they provoked in- 
quiry, aroused scepticism, and challenged 
criticism. We may look upon the Jews as 
the great teachers of doubt, through their 
very obstinacy in believing. Under such 
conditions Theology was possible, but not 
Science. Historians must not lose sight of 
all these diametrically opposed elements, as 
their conflict forms the basis of the historical 
phenomena from the times of the Foundation 
of Christianity to our own. Judaism repre- 
sents the static or moral power, working in 
Humanity ; Christian Teutonism the dyna- 
mic or intellectual force. Everywhere we 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 511 

shall find the restraining stationary power 
in deadly conflict with the advancing force, 
whilst civilization will progress whenever the 
two elements are most evenly balanced. 

To make this more clear, we may say that The Jews 
the Jews were the Tories, and the Teutons the ^ Tones, 
Whigs, in General History ; both were and Teutons 
are necessary completing elements in the i^G^erai' 
progressive development of Humanity. The History. 
Jews always were opposed to everything 
and everyone not Jewish. This gigantic 
self-esteem and contempt of all others who 
did not think like themselves, made them 
that compact power which still has great 
intellectual influence on Humanity. The The Jews 
Jews were no Historians. The very word £?*? n .° 

mj xi_i srorifm^ 

which they use for History goes far to prove 
this. History with them is " Toledo th," "Tois- 
meaning " generation." Observation, exa- doth/ ' 
mination of facts, and researches were ex- 
cluded by the Jews from the study of 
History ; tables of pedigree formed with Tables of 
them the foundation and essence of it. The P edi s ree - 
Jewish writers never cared for the proba- 
bility or possibility of facts or dates. They 
settled chronology as part of their dogmatic 
faith, and this was the cause of that eternal 
confusion which, inherited by bigoted Chris- 
tians, still prevents the truthful study of 
History in England. The Jews insist upon The 
certain calculations, and most religiously £f the j° Sy 
abide by them. Just as with the Chinese based on 
five is a sacred number, forty is sacred with S^ 
the Jews. " Forty was a round number, 



512 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

and is still employed as such in the East to ex- 
press an indefinite quantity ; so that a fixed 
determination of the Chronology cannot be 
thought of whilst this number is met with 
in Hebrew History." A few examples will 
suffice to show what credence can be attached 
to such accounts, though they have been, 
and are still, held inspired : — 
Forty Forty days the Deluge lasted; though the 

with the Deluge never could have taken place in the 
general way described and believed in by 
the Jews (Gen. vii. 4). 

Forty days the waters subsided (Gen. 
viii. 6). 

Forty years was the age of Isaac when he 
married (Gen. xxv. 20). 

Forty years was the age of Esau when he 
married (Gen. xxvi. 34). 

Forty years was the age of Moses when 
he fled from Egypt (Acts vii. 23). 

Forty years after his flight he stood be- 
fore Pharaoh (Exod. vii. 7). 

Forty days Moses remained on Mount 
Sinai (Exod xxiv. 18). 

Forty days the Spies remained in Canaan 
(Num. xiii. 25). 

Forty years after the departure out of 
Egypt Moses died (Deut. xxxiv. 7). 

Forty years under Othniel the land was 
at rest from enemies (Judges iii. 2), 

Forty years it was at rest under Gideon 
(Judges viii. 28). 

Forty years it was subject to the Philis- 
tines (Judges xiii. 1). 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 513 

Forty years Eli was High Priest (1 Sam. 
iv. 18). 

Forty years was the age of Ish-bosheth 
when he became king (2 Sam. ii. 10). 

Forty years Absalom waited before he 
rebelled (2 Sam. xv. 7). 

Forty years David reigned (1 Kings 
ii. 2). 

Forty years Solomon was King of Israel 
(1 Kings xi. 42). 

Forty years Jehoash reigned (2 Kings 
xii. 1). 

" And in like manner also the popular in- Forty 
ventive legends of the Hebrew people repre- ^desert 
sent their forefathers as having wandered 
forty years in the desert; nay, with the 
exception of two individuals (Joshua and 
Caleb), the whole generation is said to have 
perished in the interval, and this for no 
other reason than because the spies had been 
absent for just the same number of days, 
and the people had murmured at their re- 
port.'' (See Professor von Bohlen, " Historical Professor 
and Critical Illustrations of the First Part of Eohlen - 
Genesis," edited by James Heywood, M.A., 
F.R.S. London: Longmans, 1862. Vol. I., 
pages 83, 84, and 85). 

Pious divines have even gone so far as to The 
publish school-books, provided with maps, s ^f" 
on which every place is marked where the impos- 
Jews rested on their wanderings through the Slb ty * 
desert, though it is now geographically 
proved that they could not have wandered 
about in it for forty years, unless they had 

2l 



wrong 
dates 



514 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

marched to and fro the whole time, as the 
soldiers usually do on the stage in a military 
pantomime. Goethe allowed them only two 
years for traversing every inch of the Desert. 

Myths and Such myths and fables, which in their very 
chronology bear incontestable evidences of 
a clumsy after arrangement, were, and are 
still, believed in by ignorant divines, and 
their unthinking flocks. From a historical 
point of view we must honour the Sacred 
Books of all the different nations of antiquity. 
They are all venerable and worthy of our 
most assiduous study. We must concede 
that, of all the ancient books which have 
come down to us, the Jewish Records are the 
most valuable ; but the historical portion of 
these Records has been treated, even by 
ancient Jewish writers and commentators, as 
mythic and allegorical, and rarely as indis- 
putable historical truth. 

Phiio The most important lay writer among the 

Sjew) J ews was the Platonic philosopher Philo- 
Jud^eus, born 30 B.C. at Alexandria. He 
was the direct Founder of that peculiar school 
of Neo-Platonic Theologians, who mixed the 
ideas of Pythagoras, Plato, Moses, and the 
Prophets, with their own notions. With re- 
gard to Philo, it is very difficult to distinguish 
him from Plato, and Plato from Philo ; in 
fact, Platonism was turned into " Philoism." 
The Fathers in general, and Augustine in 
particular, borrowed very largely from this 

Phiio's writer. There was something in Philo which 
placed him above the common Jewish writers, 



character. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 515 

or commentators. He was not a Jewish Jew ; 
lie was deeply impressed by the classical 
spirit of ancient times, and though he did 
not altogether divest himself of the narrow- 
ing influence of Judaism, he had undoubtedly 
broader and more catholic views. The 
following quotation will show how far his 
theologico-Platonic mode of arguing served 
the Fathers, and still serves our own divines. 
Philo objected to the expression u I am thy His oVjec- 
Gfod" as the literal meaning would limit the Jewish the 
universality of the Godhead. As a learned "i am thy 

«/ ft .j jj 

Pythagorean and Platonist, he must have 
felt convinced that the " Monas Monadum " of 
Pythagoras, Plato's "Soul of the Universe," 
and the " Javeh " of Moses, must be one and 
the same God. He, therefore, says that the 
expression "I am thy God" is made by a 
certain " figurative misuse of language rather 
than with strict propriety ; for the living 
God, inasmuch as He is living, does not con- 
sist in relation to anything ; for He Himself 
is full of Himself, and He is sufficient for 
Himself, and He existed before the creation 
of the world, and equally after the creation 
of the universe ; for He is immovable and 
unchangeable, having no need of any other 
thing or being whatever, so that all things 
belong to Him ; but, properly speaking, He 
does not belong to anything." (See Philo 
Judseus, " On the Creation of the World," 
vol. ii., page 243.) 

Many of the passages of the Old Testa- Treats 
ment are treated by Philo as mere poetical the ouT 

2 l 2 



516 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Testament allegories, but we still find ignorant priests, 

al! 1 ® g0 "" of various denominations, who speak of the 

" tree of knowledge " as a real tree, with real 

apples, as its forbidden fruit, and of the 

talking serpent, as having really talked, and 

having been " cursed above all cattle, and 

above every beast of the field : upon thy 

belly thou shalt go, and dust shalt thou eat 

all the days of thy life." A serpent, if a 

serpent, could not have walked on its legs ; 

and it never eats dust, but lives, according to 

its species, on different animals, frogs, birds 

and four-footed creatures. Some of them 

even devour sheep, calves, and cows. Philo 

must have felt this more than 1,850 years ago, 

and he says of the whole paradisiacal myth : 

Hisnotions " I rather conceive that Moses was speaking 

of life and ^ n an allegorical spirit, intending by his para- 

the tree of dise to intimate the dominant character of 

of ^^ tne soul > which is ful1 of innumerable 
and evil, opinions, as the figurative paradise was of 
trees. And by the tree of life he was 
shadowing out the greatest of the virtues, 
namely, piety towards the gods, by means 
of which the soul is made immortal ; and by 
the tree which had the knowledge of good 
and evil, he was intimating that wisdom and 
moderation, by means of which things con- 
trary in their nature to one another are dis- 
tinguished." With all this Philo was an or- 
thodox Pharisee, and wrote to prove that all 
the wisdom contained in the ancient philo- 
sophers was also contained in the Old 
Testament. He by this means widened 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 517 

the range of revelation, for, if the writings 
of inspired Jews contained the same wisdom 
and truth, as the writings of the philoso- 
phers of the Indians, Greeks, Persians, and 
Chinese, all must have been equally in- 
spired, and truth must have been impartially 
revealed, at different times, in different places, 
to different nations, by one and the same 
Divine Spirit, whose revelations have been 
differently understood, according to the 
social, political, ethnical, and lingual capaci- 
ties of the listeners. The irresistible force 
of this assertion must strike every historian, 
whose brain has not been distorted by a one- 
sided training. Equally impressive must be 
the following passage of Philo, showing the 
utter uselessness of trying to scan with our 
Finite comprehension the incomprehensible 
Infinite: "It is sufficient for the reasoning His 
powers of man to advance so far as to learn £owfarwe 
that there is, and actually exists, the great may know 
cause of all things ; and to attempt to proceed 
further, so as to pursue investigation into 
the essence or distinctive qualities of God, 
is an absolute piece of folly. (See Philo, 
vol. i., page 325.) The writings of Philo 
were numerous and are full of interest ; he 
himself divided them into 

(a.) Kosmopoietika (On the Creation of Division of 
the World). _ _ _ £ ££ 

(h). Historika (On Jewish History). 

(c,) Nomothetika (Concerning the Mosaic 
Laws). 

In all these works Historians will find 



518 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

ample material for a correct understanding 
of primitive Christianity. 
Flatus Next to him in importance as a Historian 

Josephs. s t anc l s Flavius Josephus, who was born 
37 A.D. ? at Jerusalem, of the priestly family 
of the Hashmonahs. When fourteen years 
old he was examined in the Scriptures, and 
to accustom himself to a severe mode of 
life he retired into solitude, and lived 
with a Hermit of the name of Baunal 
for several years. He then returned to Jeru- 
salem, and became a strict follower of the 
Pharisees, considering them the holiest sect, 
because they observed the Law most rigor- 
Went to ously. In the year 63 a.d. he went to 
Rome, where he gained the favour of the 
charming Poppsea, the wife of Nero, and 
succeeded in freeing several of his friends, 
who had been accused of sedition. He re- 
turned to Palestine, and was made governor 
of Galilee, where he endeavoured to prevent 
Was made his compatriots from rebelling. After the 
aftOTthe' town of Jotapata had been taken, he was 
mi of made prisoner by Vespasian and Titus. He 

Jotapata. .-"■-.. -f. . x .-, -, . 7 /ON 

remained in captivity until ms prophecy ', (:} 
that Vespasian and Titus would become 
emperors, had been fulfilled ; he was then set 
at liberty, and was present at the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem by Titus. He again 
returned to Rome, where he devoted him- 
self to the study of the Greek language, 
in order to write his historical works, 
all of which are of great importance, not- 
withstanding their partiality, inaccuracies, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 519 

and falsifications. Josephus, like all half- 
theological writers, did not shrink from 
giving utterance to exaggerations and direct 
falsehoods, to extol his nation, and to prove 
that all others belonged to the cursed races of 
infidels and gentiles. In his " Antiquities," 
he pharaphrases the Mosaic account with- His 
out any deeper critical spirit, like Philo, he "^J-J^"* 
also tries to solve some enigmatical and alle- 
gorical passages in a theologico-philosophical 
sense, but loses himself in hopeless incon- 
gruities, and in geographical, topographical, 
geological, astronomical, and zoological non- 
sense, as all who have attempted the same 
task have done. He states, as a fact, that 
several of the animals, especially the ser- 
pent, could speak before the Fall. And 
yet Bishop Porteus had the audacity to 
assert that "the fidelity, the veracity, and Bishop 
the probity of Josephus are universally josephus!"" 
allowed ; " which, with the learned bishop's 
permission, is as untrue as any falsehood 
can be. 

Scaliger, a learned writer of the sixteenth Scaiigeron 
century a.d., declared " that, not only in 4 3ep us * 
the affairs of the Jews, but even of foreign 
nations, Josephus deserves more credit than 
all the Greek and Koman writers put to- 
gether." Writers and students of History 
must not allow themselves to be biassed by 
such sweeping and utterly ridiculous asser- 
tions. A Historian, who can assign the vic- 
tory of the Hebrews over the Amalekites to 
Moses's holding up his hands, is certainly not 



520 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Prof, 
Schlosser 
on Jose- 
phus. 



Alexander 
the Great 
at Jeru- 
salem. 



one who deserves more credit " than all the 
Greek and Roman writers put together." 
Fr. Chr. Schlosser says of Josephus ' ' that 
he made use of fables and fictions to extol 
his people, and entwined true historical facts 
with intentional falsehoods." His detailed 
description of the visit of Alexander the 
Great to Jerusalem will serve to illustrate 
this ; every word of it being mere fanciful 
invention. 

The high priest, on the approach of Alex- 
ander to Jerusalem, of course had a dream, 
in which God's providence commands him 
how to meet the great Pagan king: " and 
when the Phoenicians and the Chaldeans that 
followed him thought they should have 
liberty to plunder the city, and torment the 
high priest to death, which the king's dis- 
pleasure fairly promised them, the very re- 
verse happened ; for Alexander, when he saw 
the multitude at a distance, in white gar- 
ments, while the priests stood clothed in fine 
linen, and the high priest in purple and 
scarlet clothing, with his mitre on his head, 
having the golden plate, whereon the name 
of God was engraved, he approached by 
himself, and adored that name, and first 
saluted the high priest. The Jews also did 
altogether, with one voice, salute Alexander 
and encompass him about, whereupon the 
kings of Syria and the rest were surprised 
at what Alexander had done, and supposed 
him disordered in his mind. However, Par- 
menio alone went up to him 3 and asked him 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 521 

how it came to pass that, when all others 
adored him, he should adore the high priest 
of the Jews. To whom he replied, i I did 
not adore him, but that God who hath 
honoured him with his high priesthood, for 
I saw this very person in a dream, in this 
very habit, when I was at Dios in Make- 
donia, who, when I was considering with 
myself how I might obtain the dominion of 
Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but The high 
boldly to come over the sea thither, for that theJews 
he would conduct my army, and would give promises 
me the dominion over the Persians.' (The the ^eat* 
Jewish high priest was to lead Alexander's ^minion 

i . • i • • , ,i over the 

army and to give nim victory over tne Persians. 
Persians. This modesty on the part of the 
Jewish Historian is in perfect accordance 
with that fidelity, veracity, and probity 
which Bishop Porteus admired so greatly.) 
' Whence it is that, having seen no other in 
that habit, and now seeing this person in it, 
and remembering that vision and the exhor- 
tation which I had in my dream, I believe 
that I bring this army under the divine con- 
duct, and shall therewith conquer Darius.' " 
(See the works of Flavius Josephus, translated 
by William Whiston. u Antiquities of the 
Jews," Book XI., chap, viii.) This extract is 
sufficient, as the false statement is too evident ; 
for Alexander, long before he ever entered 
Palestine, had beaten Darius near Issus, was 
in possession of all the towns of Asia Minor, 
and had taken Tyrus, after a siege of seven 
months. The whole account of Josephus is 



522 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

a pure invention, made to glorify the high 
priest of the Jews, and to extol the power 
and glory of the God of the Jews. But 
Fraud and falseholds and frauds, myths and legends, 
cannotb^ cann °t ^ e excused because they are said to 
excused be framed for the glorification of the Deity. 
framed^ The teaching of this simple truth is fraught 
honour of with the greatest possible difficulties. From 
the times of the establishment of the Chris- 
tian State-religion, the approbation of the 
Church was indispensable to any subject 
that was to be taught, and this was denied 
to every study, that did not promote the 
infallible authority of the Christian creed. 
Under these circumstances History was 
impossible for more than one thousand years. 
We have stated, that next to the founda- 
tion of Christianity, the great migration of 
the north European people towards the south, 
was one of the most eventful occurrences in 
History, and this, together with the Mediaeval 
period, we shall treat of in our next chapter. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 523 



CHAPTER VI. 

The North Indo-Europeans, or North The North 
European- Aryans, lived for thousands of E ^ r op eang 
years in gloomy seclusion in Europe. Prior <> r E ^ro- 
to the period of the Foundation of Chris- Aryans, 
tianity, the North- Western people had been 
here and there mentioned under different 
names, but nothing definite was known of 
them. The names by which these ancient 
offshoots of the great Aryan group were 
known were innumerable. With them, as 
with the ancient Indians and Greeks, the 
tribal subdivision was paramount. Kelts, Tribal sub- 
Franks, Alans, Normans, Longobards (mean- under 
ing "Langbarte," long-bearded men), Visi- ^™ nt - 
goths or Westrogoths (Goths of the West), 
Ostrogoths (Goths of the East), Alemanni, 
Burgundians (meaning such as lived in 
" Burgen," Boroughs, Castles), Ingavonians, 
Istavonians, Saxons (such as had settled 
from "Sasse"), Anglo-Saxons (such as had 
been anglers or fishermen), Markomanni 
(men that lived on the frontiers), Herulians, 
Gurgeni, Svevi (nomads), &c, all belonged 
to the one great Indo- Aryan group. They 
all spoke a language in many respects nearer 
to the Sanskrit than Greek or Latin. They 
were certainly not, as the Romans had 
thought, a pure, unmixed and aboriginal 
race ; but came from Central Asia at periods 



names. 



524: THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

which cannot he dated, and Drought with them 
a language which they had possessed at one 
time, in common with the Sanskrit and Zend 
people, on this side of the Himalayan moun- 
tain slopes and plains. They must have 
separated from the parent stock before the 
Pelasgians settled in Greece ; for their myths, 
and the whole of their heroic development, 
their social and political organisation, their 
communal and town life, their aristocratically 
democratic institutions, all point to a common 
origin with Greeks, Romans, Etruscans, In- 
dians, and Persians. The general names, by 
German, which these different tribes went, were u Ger- 
^ e ^" man" or "Wehrmann," "Barmann," u Dart- 
mann'. man," probably from " Ger," a lance, spear, 
or dart, and u mann," a man, or rather a 
warrior — a fighting man. The name of 
Teutons, Teutons, Teutsche, introduced only at a 
eutsc e. coni p ara tiy e ly later period, was probably 
derived from Diot (Devas, Theos, Deus), or 
Thiudu or Tuisko, the name of their god of 
war, signifying also " nation." Whenever 
we use the word Teutons, we use it in its 
very widest meaning. 
How the Tribal subdivisions often to a great ex- 
word tent obscure the broad understanding of 
to be used, historical phenomena. We study History 
from a one-sided national point of view, and 
are thus incapable of grasping the true 
general point of view of the most important 
events. One-sidedness is purposely fostered, 
to keep up artificial animosities between the 
different particles of one whole — to blind the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 525 

people, and make them easy tools for plunder 
and murder, when it may happen to be 
convenient to the Government of some special 
branch of the same Indo-European or Euro- 
pean-Aryan, or Teuton family. In using 
the word Teuton, we include all the European 
nations, with the exception of the Magyars, 
Turks, Greeks, and Latins, or Romans. The 
Kelts, French, and Sclavons cannot be ex- 
cluded from the great Teutonic or Indo- 
European group, for, according to recent 
philological researches, they undoubtedly 
belong to it. 

What we know of the earliest history of The 
this powerful nation, or rather " Nation of^ eutons 
Nations/' is principally derived from foreign Annals or 
writers. The Teutons only began to have Chromcles - 
Annals and Chronicles long after they had 
come into contact with the Romans, and 
long after they had made an end of the 
mighty Roman Empire, and adopted the 
Latin language. The most important Greek 
and Latin Writers, who serve as sources for 
the study of the history of the ancient 
Germans, are — 

(a.) Greeks: (a.) Greek 

1. Plutarch (see page 330), in his bio- Y" iters on 

graphy Of " MariuS." Teutons or 

2. Diodorus Siculus (see page 287). ancient 

3. Appian (see page 333), especially in 
the chapters on the Kelts and Illyrians. 

4. Dio Cassius (see page 334). 

(b.) Romans: (i.jEoman 

1. Floras (see page 362). writers - 



526 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

2. Velleius Paterculus (see page 339). 

3. Frontinus, a military writer, who lived 
under the Emperor Domitian. 

4. Valerius Maximus (see page 342). 

5. Julius Caesar (see page 298). 

6. Tacitus (see page 344). 

7. Pliny the Elder (see page 379). 

8. Suetonius (see page 356). 

9. Eutropius (see page 368). 

when first The Indo-Europeans were first mentioned 
mentioned as u (Germans " not farther back than the 

in History, . n • 

year 223 B.C., m the celebrated " Fastis 
Capitolinis " (The Capitoline Records), en- 
graved on marble slabs, discovered 1547 a.d. 
The Consul Marcellus is here said to have 
conquered the Gauls and " Germans," under 
their leader Viridomar. From the moment 
that the Teutons, or Germans, stepped into 
the broad daylight of History they formed 
the very centre-point, round which the whole 
progressive development of Humanity re- 
volved. Italians, Spaniards, French, and 
Sclavons played prominent parts in History, 
according to the plus or minus of Teuton 
blood which had been infused into their 
aboriginal State-bodies. 
History is History cannot be studied — as we have 
of disco™* repeatedly said — as the mere record of dis- 
nected connected facts. History is in no way a mere 
accidental conglomeration of isolated phe- 
nomena. Ethnical and geographical causes 
form the bases of the phases of our religious, 
national, social, and political developments. 
In religion, two mighty, apparently antago- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 527 

nistic, yet completing, agents were at work 
throughout the whole historical evolution of 
the Teutons : 

(a.) The Pantheistic ; and The two 

(b.) The Christian Theistic. ^g° us 

All the other religious shades are merely amongst 
different, intermediate reflections of these Teutons. 
two fundamental elements. The Teutons 
brought both conceptions, in all their sub- 
lime grandeur, with them from those sunny 
homes in the South, of which they never 
ceased to dream, even when long settled on 
the dreary ice-fields of the farthest North. 
The aspect of nature and their own origin 
aroused an inexpressible longing for some 
heavenly happiness in eternal spendour. The 
dreams of a shadowy past, and the hope of 
seeing the land of blissful, rosy brightness 
again, engendered in the Teutons pre-emi- 
nently Christian sentiments, long before 
they had even heard of Christ and His 
doctrines. From the first moment that the Activity 
Teutons appeared in History all was motion, ^ ion 
change, and activity ; no stagnation, no rest, 
no uniformity. Life in the North- West of 
Europe with the Teutonic tribes was, and is, 
a mighty stream, flowing towards the infinite, 
every ripple infused with a feverish longing 
to go on and not to rest. Dreamy laziness, 
and contemplative idleness are the character- 
istics of the East; where people can rouse 
themselves to a sudden, storm-like impetu- 
osity of action, but soon sink back into 
apathy, astonished at their own unexpected 



their 
element 



528 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

liveliness. An excited and often uncontrol- 
lable activity, which we pointed out in the 
Greeks and Romans, was, and is still, more 
developed in the Teutons. The Teutons, 
whether as English, Germans, Dutch, Swedes, 
History Danes, or Americans, are never likely to cease 
making History. Some of their tribes have 
disappeared, and may be absorbed by, or lose 
themselves in, others ; but the great national 
family body will endure as the principal ele- 
ment of progressively advancing Humanity. 
These words are not dictated by national or 
tribal prejudice, and inconsiderate predilec- 
tion. General History proves our asser- 
tion on every page, in every line. Three- 
fourths of the habitable globe are swayed by 
Teuton ideas, Teuton knowledge, Teuton 
industry, Teuton commercial enterprise, Teu- 
ton taste, Teuton institutions, and Teuton 
inventions. The Teutons, whether as English, 
Scots, Kelts, Germans, Franks, Bavarians, 
Saxons, Prussians, Italians, French, or Spa- 
niards, &c, are all members of the same 
Aryan group. All these people had once a 
common "lingual paradise," in which they 
spoke the same Aryan language; they all 
have the same facial angle and facial lines 
with very slight variations, and their amount 
of brain is on an average the same, and is, 
undoubtedly, larger than that of any other 
group of Humanity. They had different 
developments, but no one can deny that there 
is a national, lingual, moral, and intellectual 
affinity between the Indian and the Greek, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 529 

the Scandinavian and the English, the Persian 
and the German, the Roman and the French, 
the Portuguese and the Spaniard. When we 
study the "Ramayana," the "MaMbharata," Similarity 
the "Iliad," the "Odyssee," the "^Eneid," ^ e e t p r ie 
the "Eddas," the "Niebelungen Song," the P ° 
" Orlando Furioso," " Paradise Lost," the 
"Lusiadas," the "Cid," or the "Shahname," 
we cannot fail to perceive a striking likeness 
in all these epic creations. The same spirit 
of venturesome daring, romantic love, heroic 
self-sacrifice, blind obedience, and reckless 
enterprise pervades them all, and such ana- 
logous characteristics cannot be merely acci- 
dental. The same strain of thought has 
passed, and passes, through them all. The 
Teutons have made of the Sanskrit " Hima- Affinity of 
laya," meaning " abode of snow," their lan s ua s e - 
"Himmel," or heaven. The Sanskrit word 
"atman" (soul) is the German "Athena" 
(breath) ; " naman " is " Name " (name) ; 
" bratar," " Bruder " (brother) ; " duhitar," 
"Tochter" (daughter); "go," "Kuh"(cowj; 
" rag'ya," " Reich " (empire) ; " rata " (car) ; 
"Rad" (wheel); " mana-se-di," "Menschen- 
saat" (seed of man); "veda," "wissen" (to 
know). The Sanskrit verb "manayami," 
which was in old German "varmanem," 
changed in modern German into " wahrneh- 
men " (to admonish, to observe). We have Compara- 
already shown through a few words the {*™ P hiJo " 
connection of Greeks and Romans with the 
Sanskrit people, and these few examples 
must suffice to prove a close lingual and 

2 at 



530 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

ethnical connection between Teutons and 
Indians. After the indefatigable researches 
Wm. von of the great German philologists, William 
Humboldt, von Humboldt, Jacob Grimm, Francis Bopp, 
Grimm, Max Muller, Pott, and Albert Kuhn, it can 
Francis n0 i on g er }y e doubted, that the Indo-European 
Mas' languages had one common fountain for their 
Pott ler ' diverging lingual rivers and rivulets. Wil- 
Curtius, Ham von Humboldt was the first to point out 
Khun. that languages may be treated scientifically. 
Jacob Grimm systematically traced the regu- 
lar changes of sounds. Francis Bopp was 
the creator of comparative philology. Max 
Miiller, Pott, and Curtius developed this 
study, and collected immense material for 
further researches; whilst Albert Kuhn de- 
monstrated from single words the state of 
social and religious culture, which the differ- 
ent offshoots of the great Aryan family must 
have possessed in common, ere they separated 
and settled in the different countries which 
they invaded, or to which they migrated. 
Pantheism Indians, Persians, Greeks, and Teutons 
Teutons! believed in common in one pervading Spirit, 
of which the phenomena of nature were but 
secondary manifestations. This spirit was 
«Aiiva- called " Allvater " by the Germans. This 
Allvater " engendered the pantheistic con- 
ception, which was in no way contradictory 
to Christ's eternal Father, of whom all man- 
kind are children. The ancient u Nature- 
God " (Pantheos, from which we have " Pan- 
theist ") does not absolutely convey that 
Nature is God Himself, but may signify, in 



ter. u 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 531 

a more philosophical sense, that God mani- 
fests Himself in Nature, or that Nature, the 
Universe, is but the visible form or garment 
of God's invisible, yet ever active, creating, 
preserving, and transforming power. The 
Teutons recognised in man, from time imme- 
morial, an incarnate spark of the Deity. To 
assume this incarnation of the Divine Spirit Transition 
in the highest degree in Christ was not, ^ to it Chns " 
therefore, very difficult for the Teutons ; and, 
though they clung for a long time with the 
greatest pertinacity to their peculiar ancient 
religious notions, they learned at last how 
to combine Christianity with their ideas of 
the ever-active secret forces working: in 
nature. 

The immense forests, marshes, plains, The 
rivers, and deserts that form the second fhifaf" 
centre of Europe, which we have called "its position of 
heart" (see page 63), separated the Teutons Germany * 
from the Greeks and Komans. The Her- 
cynian Forest, according to Caesar's account, Julius 
extended from the Alps northwards, sixty ^ h^T-. 
days' journey in its length, and nine days' in man forest. 
its width ; so that we may assume that nearly 
all the forests of the present Germany are 
merely remnants of this gigantic wooded 
range. Caesar probably misunderstood the 
German word " Hart," or " Harz," to apply 
to all the forests ; whilst Pliny and Tacitus Pimyand 
already more correctly defined the Hercynian Tacitus - 
mountains, and knew of a" Mons Abnoba" 
(Black Forest); " Melibokos," the present 
Harz; the " Semana " forest, to the south 

2 M 2 



532 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

of the Harz ; the " Sudeta,'' a portion of the 
Thuringian forest; the " Gabreta," Bohe- 
mian forest ; the " Taunus," the heights 
between Wiesbaden and Homburg ; the 
u Teutoburg " forest, extending from the 
River Weser, through Paderborn, as far as 
Osnaburg, &c. These woods consisted of 
oaks, beeches, and pines ; here and there 
were mysterious open spaces, which vivid 
imaginations transformed into places where 
an infinite variety of little spirits — angels or 
devils — danced in the bright moonshine. The 
Romans greatly admired the mighty oak 
trees, which they thought coeval with the 
creation of the earth itself. Pliny, who had 
himself been in the north of Westphalia, in 
the country of the Chaucy, expresses himself 
thus w^ith reference to these trees : ' c Created 
with the earth itself, untouched by centuries, 
the monstrous trunks surpass, by their power- 
ful vitality, all other wonders of nature." 
Rivers and Next to the vast and mysterious woods 
streams. we re the not less imposing rivers, winding 
through undulating grounds, surrounded by 
hills, mountains, or by steep rocks, which 
suddenly rose in different shapes ; now as 
petrified giants (afterwards monks or nuns) ; 
then again as warriors, resting in their tombs, 
or as fairies and nixes, enticing young 
knights to share their watery bridal beds. 
Both in the south of their country, and in the 
farthest north the aspect of nature had an 
immense influence on the formation of the 
peculiar character of the Teutons. . Nature 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 533 

was the basis of Greek myths, and with 
the Teutons we find the same element, but 
in a less disguised form. We may learn Their 
something* of the Teuton cosmogonical con- and mogony 
ceptions from the " Edda" (meaning great- mytho- 
granclmother), a species of manual or hand- The' 
book for the skalds and singers, their " Edda." 
religious and moral teachers. The song 
" Hawamal, and the "Edda" contain, like 
the " Vedas," Solomon's Proverbs, or He- 
siod's u Works and Days," collections of 
moral sayings, and a mythic cosmogony. 
The yearly death of nature in the North 
vividly maintained the idea of a general 
destruction, in accordance with t'he Christian 
u last day of judgment." They called their 
gods Asen (the bright or elders : Asia derives 
its name from the root of this word). Odin, (Mm or 
or Wodan, or Woodan (from whose name we Woodaa ' 
have Wednesday, or Woodan's day), from 
the Zend, Chuodan, " Gott," was a kind 
of Moses to the Teutons, who led them 
from Asia to the North of Europe. Out 
of the yawning depths of Chaos rose first 
"Niflheim" (the realm of fogs; Nebel, and Niflheim 
Jleim, home), which was separated from the Muspei- 
bright and shiny " Muspelheim " (Musjpel, keim. 
light, and Heim, home). Sparks from the 
latter melted the snow, out of which grew 
the terrible giant Ymir, and the cow, Aud- 
hu?nla, who in licking the salted snow pro- 
duced the first man, " Buri," or " Bor." His 
sons or grandchildren, Odin, Vili, and We, . 
killed the giant Ymir ? and made of his body Ymif!*" 1 



534 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

heaven and earth. The earth was made of 
his flesh, the rocks of his bones, his skull be- 
came heaven, and his blood furnished seas, 

The four rivers, and streams. They then took four 

dwarfs. dwarfs, and placed Austri in the East, Westri 
in the West, Sudri in the South, and Nordri 
in the North, to guard the four corners of 
the earth. Odin or Woodan then embraced 

Thor. the earth, and created his mighty son Thor 
(' Donner,' thunder, from which we have 
Thursday, or ' Thor's day, 5 ) the protector of 
mother-earth, and the enemy of the wicked. 
He sent his lightnings against giants, puri- 
fied the air, dispersed frost and cold, killed 
the demons of heat, silenced the destructive 
storms, built bridges, made high roads, fur- 
thered the intercourse of man with man, and 
promoted civilization. The second son of 

Zio, Ziuor Woodan was Zlo (Zeu, Zeus, S'fva, Jovis or 

Tyr and Tyr-Tui or Tusco), the god of battles, the 
destroyer (from whose name we have Tues- 
day, or Thuis's day, Tuisco's day). The 

Frok. third son was Froh (Froho, Freyer, free), 
the happy god, the god of love and mar- 
riage. Who can fail to recognize in Thor, 
Froh, and Zui, Brahma, Vishnu, and S'iva ; 
Jupiter, Apollo, and Mars? As with the 
Aryans on the Granges, so with those on the 
Rhine, the Elbe, or the Weser, and in Scan- 
dinavia, the passive element of nature was 

Hertha. embodied in female divinities. Hertha (Ner- 
thus, the Earth) corresponds to S'ris, Hera, 

Hoida. Ceres, Isis; Holda is closely allied with 
Hilda, Hela, Hell (the bright, also the Hid- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 535 

den), the goddess of wisdom and death, the 
Greek Athene, the Latin Minerva, and 
the Indian Durga ; and Freyja represents Freyja. 
Aphrodite, Parvati, or Venus, the goddess 
of love. From her we have Friday (Frei- 
tag, Freyja's day). All these conceptions 
point to lingual and religious elements which 
the Teutons brought with them from the 
South ; and transformed, at a later period, 
under the impressions of their inclement, 
wild, foggy, and mystic nature, into gods 
and goddesses, that acted and reacted on 
their every-day life. 

The gods of the Teutons, like those of the character 
ancient Indians, at first were not real per- Benton 
sonifications of the forces and phenomena of gods. 
nature. They were of an ethereal, eternal, 
invulnerable nature ; their abode was the 
morn, the noon, or the evening ; they were 
bright manifestations, like the beaming sun, 
the wandering clouds, the cooling winds, or 
the starry night. They were without any 
imperfections ; they had no right or left, no 
front or back ; they did not grow weary, and 
did not sleep ; they were everywhere, like 
light. The transition from such notions to 
Augustine's theological subtleties was not 
difficult. 

The gods of the Teutons presented different 
aspects, and we may read in these various 
conceptions, in analogy with those of the 
Greeks, distinct epochs of civilization. The 
u Vanas " were described as less terrible 
gods. Amongst them was " Heimdall,' ? the 



536 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

far-seeing" god ? who is brought into union 
with "Rig," who on his wanderings created 
three pairs of human beings, from whom the 
Thraie. " Thrale," the free possessors, or the landed 
Enke. projjrietors ; the " Enke," or u knaves," the 
Jarie. servants, or labourers; and the "Jarl" 
(earls), the nobles, were said to have de- 
scended. The first had been created stal- 
wart and strong, and lived on coarse 
brown bread ; the second were described as 
clean, honest, industrious, and moral; and 
the third as well trained in the use of arms, 
courageous, and heroic, despising, yet seek- 
ing adventures and dangers — in fact, the 
nobility. In this mythological fable a higher 
kind of social and political organization of 
the Teutons is embodied. 
The myth More interesting even is the record of the 
"Baidur." youthful and innocent " Baldur," corre- 
sponding to the Indian Krishna, the Greek 
Phoebus Apollo, the Egyptian Horus, and the 
deliverer and Saviour of the world, Christ. 
Baldur represented cosmically the sun at its 
height in summer; his wife, "Nanna," was 
nature in her splendid bloom, showering 
flowers and fruits on the good and virtuous. 
Morally Baldur was the valiant keeper of 
peace, the protector of everything noble and 
virtuous. u Yggdrasil" was the tree of life, 
the mighty ash-tree, symbolically repre- 
senting the living universe. The Indian 
tree and serpent worship has its analogies 
amongst the Teutons, and explains their 
veneration for trees. Round the great ash 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 537 

tree hovered the "Noras," the goddesses of Ths three 
fate, the sisters of man's destiny ; their names u^a, - 
were "Urda" (in German " Wurde," what Verdandi, 
has been), "Verdandi" (in German "Wer- 
dend," what is), and " Skuld " (in German 
" Soil," what shall be); or rather, past, pre- 
sent, and future — they poured out the source 
of immortality This source had been dried 
up by the wickedness of Loki, the Evil 
Spirit, " winter." He hated the bright ac- 
tions of the wise gods, and delighted in cre- 
ating monsters. The transition from this 
"Loki," or " Lokri," to the Hebrew and 
Christian devils was easy, especially as, ac- 
cording to the ancient Teutonic myths, Loki 
would bring about the final destruction of 
the world, with the help of the wolf, "Fen- The wolf 
ris," and the serpent, "Midgard," surround- and e the 
ing the earth ; symbolic, as with the Egyp- serpent 
tians, of time, the great all-enclosing serpent, gar d."~ 
that always is and is not, that has no begin- 
ning and no end. Loki, like the Persian 
Ahriman (Agromainyus), was continually 
consulted by the gods, who often made use 
of his deep intellectual powers. Loki at last Loki. 
succeeded in killing Baldur. All nature 
— minerals, plants, and animals — had sworn 
not to be instrumental in killing Baldur, 
with the exception of the mistletoe, which 
had been overlooked ; and Loki, making use 
of this oversight, had Baldur killed by the Hodur 
blind Hodur with a blow from a branch of Baldur, as 
mistletoe ; like the Egyptian Typhon, who Typhon 
killed his brother Osiris. Evil was let loose 



538 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



The social 



in the world. The gods came down, and 
fought with monsters ; the sun, the moon, 
and the stars were extinguished. The sea 
swelled and washed away the earth, the 
world was consumed in fire ; but a more 
beautiful earth arose, a brighter sun sent 
down his rays on a happier race of virtuous 
men and women. Odin's sons had saved 
Thor's hammer, and with the hammer (re- 
presenting symbolically iron and industry) 
a new world was created out of the ruins of 
the old. In this myth the record of one 
of the geological cataclysms through which 
the world had to pass is plainly perceptible. 
In spite of such fearful legends, a high 
character mora | anc [ deep religious feeling perva- 
Teutona. ded the Teutons, which was best reflected 
in their chaste and strictly honest life. 
Woman was above all honoured by them, 
and in this they unconsciously followed 
the precepts of Christ. Marriage was sa- 
cred with them, conjugal fidelity the great- 
est virtue. The family was their all; the 
children their most precious possession. 
Their greatest vice was feasting, and, above 
all, drinking, but they detested drunkards. 
A man who could not defend himself, and 
drink hard without losing consciousness, was 
no man. They swam across their rivers 
in complete armour in winter; they used 
their shields as sledges ; they vaulted over 
horses with ease. The Romans spoke of 
them as alarming and terrifying warriors. 
The Kimbri and Teutons harassed the Mis- 



Romans 

and 
Teutons. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 539 

tress of the World, when in the plenitude of 
her republican vigour. The conqueror of 
Gaul, the heroic Caesar, was baffled by Ger- 
man warriors, who came from the right bank 
of the Rhine. They were not afraid to dis- 
pute the tempting prize with the Romans. 
Caesar is said to have crossed the Rhine 
twice ; but he soon returned again, informing 
the Roman world, that the country was not 
worth conquering. The emperors of Rome 
gained some victories over the Teutons, but 
had to pay dearly for their successes, often 
sacrificing the flower of their armies. At the 
end of the first five centuries after the founda- 
tion of the Roman Empire, nothing was left 
of the mighty state, but an all-powerful 
hierarchy, discussing those abstruse topics to 
which we referred in the preceding chapter. 
Every proyince in the north, west, and south Extension 
of Europe was under Teuton rule. Germans ^ fl uence 1C 
settled in the extreme north of Russia, and in Europe. 
there formed powerful and independent re- 
publics — Kurland, Finland, and Liffland. 
The Angles and Saxons invaded and con- 
quered Britain. Teuton tribes, intermixed 
with very few aborigines, formed the ethnical 
element of the English The Franks, a pure 
German tribe, settled in Gaul, and through 
their intermixture with the aborigines and 
Roman settlers, a new nation, the French, 
sprang up. Gothic tribes — the Heruli, Longo- 
bards, and Ostrogoths — turned towards the 
East, settled on the Danube, subjected Italy 
to their sway, and constituted, with the ancient 



540 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

inhabitants, a new nation, the Italian. Other 
Gothic tribes went through Gaul, with Visi- 
goths, Burgundians, and Vandals, occupied 
Spain, and intermixing with the aborigines 
and Latins, produced a new nation, the Spanish. 
Those who crossed the seas, and settled in the 
north of Africa, became at a later period 
Mahometans, and are said to have composed 
the principal ethnical element of the Moors, 
who subsequently brought chivalry, love of 
arts, learning, and heroism into the Spanish 
peninsula. 

The three most advanced countries in all 
the branches of arts and sciences, of dis- 
coveries and daring enterprise, still retain 
the names of their Teuton conquerors. 
England. England, from the German " Angel- Land" 
France, (the land of anglers or fishermen) ; France, 
from the Franks, meaning free (the land of 
Lombardy. f ree men) ; and Lombardy, from 6 i Longbart " 
(the land of long-bearded men). It would 
be impossible to determine the proportion of 
Teuton element in the different States of 
South Europe, but it is an incontestable fact 
that the love of independence and progress, 
and the vitality of the intellectual and moral 
forces, may be measured, according to the 
greater or less quantity of Teutonic blood 
still flowing through the veins of the south- 
ern nations. The Portuguese have more of 
the Vandal and Visigoth in them than the 
Spaniards ; the Lombards and Piedmontese 
more than the Neapolitans and Eomans ; 
and the English far more than the French. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 541 

In Germany proper the same influence is 
manifest, but we must not lose sight of the 
fact that some parts of that country are less 
Teuton than England. The Sclavon, Mongol, 
and Skythian hordes, under various leaders, 
but more especially under Attila, incorpo- 
rated themselves after their defeat with the 
various Teutonic tribes in the north-east and 
south-east of Germany ; so that we must ac- 
knowledge the Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, 
and even the Dutch and English, as by far 
the most Teutonic nations in Europe. 

In Spain the Visigoths were, in a great The 
measure, absorbed by the aboriginal Kelti- | eu . tons in 
berians and the Roman colonists ; and in the 
tenth century a.d. an amalgamation with the 
Eastern blood, brought by the Arabs and the 
Moors, took place. 

Italy already, at the time of the down- in Italy. 
fall of Rome, contained an extremely mixed 
population, drawn into the all-absorbing 
vortex of the Eternal City. In the North the 
Germanic element had time to engraft itself 
to some extent, but the South, passing into 
the hands of the Byzantine Emperors (see 
below) received an additional proportion of 
the already mixed blood of the east. 

" Gaul at the time of the Frankish conquest in Gaul, or 
was a very populous country. Besides the France - 
aboriginal Gauls, the population consisted of 
numerous Roman colonies : from the earliest 
times the Mediterranean coast of Gaul had 
received Phoenician, Carthaginian, and Greek 
settlers, who founded there large and pros- 



542 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

perons cities. The original differences in the 
population of Gaul are perceptible to this 
day : the Germanic element preponderates 
in the North, where already in Caesar's times 
the Germans had succeeded in making per- 
manent settlements, and in the North-East, 
where the Burgundians had well-nigh extir- 
pated and completely subjected the Gallic 
natives. Everywhere else, however, the 
German element forms but a small portion 
of the population, and this is well illustrated 
by the striking resemblance which the cha- 
racter of the modern French bears to that of 
the ancient Gauls. Although vastly inferior 
in numbers, the descendants of the German 
conquerors were the dominant race in France 
The nobles for one thousand years. Until the fifteenth 
Franks and century a.d., all the higher nobility were of 
Burgun- Frankish or Burgundian origin. But after 
the Keltic and Kelto-Eoman provinces, south 
of the Loire, had rallied round a youthful 
king (Charles VII.), to reconquer their capital 
and best territories from the English, the 
Frankish blood ruled less in all the higher 
offices of the State ; and the distinction was 
almost entirely lost on the accession of the 
first Southern dynasty, that of the Bourbons, 
towards the end of the sixteenth century. 
The corresponding variations in the national 
policy, and the exterior manifestations of 
the national character, are not difficult to 
perceive." 
in u While the population of France presents 

so great a mixture of various different races, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 543 

and but a slight infusion of German blood, 
that of England, on the contrary, is almost 
purely Teutonic. The original inhabitants 
of the country were, for the most part, driven 
into the mountain fastnesses of Wales by the 
German invaders, where they preserve, to 
this day, their original language. (The word 
i Welsh' is German, and means l stranger,' or 
rather ' foreigner.') Every subsequent great 
addition to the population of England was 
made by the German race. The Danes, and Ethnical 
after them the Normans (the ' Nordmanner,' h °^ f 
meaning the northern men), were tribes of Danes, 
the same stock as the Saxons, and all came ^J uns 
from very nearly the same part of Europe. Normans 
It is obvious, therefore, that England, even EnWilh? 
after the Norman Conquest, when, for a time, 
the upper and lower classes spoke different 
languages, contained a more homogeneous 
population than France did at the same or 
any subsequent epoch. In England, from the 
Saxon yeoman (corresponding to the Roman The Teo- 
plebeian; from the Anglo-Saxon 'geammann,' ^ an L a ^ 
a man who takes care ; or from the Old- 
English ' ye' or ' yes,' meaning a i yes-man,' 
one who has to obey), up to the proudest 
Norman lord (corresponding to the Roman 
patrician), all belonged to the great German 
race; in France only the nobility, while 
the peasants were Gauls. The wars between 
the two countries (England and France) afford 
a striking proof of the difference between 
these two races. The battles of Cressy, of 
Poictiers, and of Agincourt, which will never 



544 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Lord 

Macaulay 

on the 

English 

and 

French. 



The three 
periods of 
historical 
develop- 
ment. 

1. The pre- 
historic 
period. 



be forgotten so long as English poetry can 
find an echo in an English breast, were won 
by the English against greatly superior num- 
bers. ' Victories, indeed, they were,' says 
Macaulay, ' of which a nation may justly be 
proud ; for they are to be attributed to the 
moral superiority of the victors, a superiority 
which was most striking in the lowest ranks. 
The knights of England found worthy rivals 
in the knights of France. Chandos encoun- 
tered an equal foe in Du Guesclin. But 
France had no infantry that dared to face 
the English bows and bills.' The Kelt has, 
probably, at no time been inferior to the 
Teuton in valour ; in martial enthusiasm he 
exceeds him. But, at a time when bodily 
strength decided the combat (as now intel- 
lectual power), the difference between the 
sturdy Saxon and the small, slight, though 
active Gaul must have been great." 

An immense difficulty presents itself in the 
study of the history of the Teutons, for the 
most part created by their own historical 
writers. We have — 

1. A pre-historic period, corresponding to 
the Greek and Roman mythic period. But 
this age is wrapped in an impenetrable fog 
and mist of contradictions. Here and there 
we obtain, through archaeological remains, 
or fragmentary reminiscences of songs, some 
uncertain glimpses into their peculiar con- 
dition. Their songs celebrated the beginning 
of spring, of summer, and winter. The 24th 
of March was the birth, the 24th of June the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 515 

prime, and the 24th of December the death 
of the year. These festivities were changed 
by their conversion to the Christian faith, 
but were recognisable in the new dress. 
The festival of The Annunciation was Spring; 
St. John's Day, Summer, was celebrated 
with bonfires ; and as, in the olden heathen 
times, they had commemorated the death 
and resurrection of the year in December — - 
Christmas was afterwards solemnly kept 
by old and young, under the shadows of 
tiny or large pine trees, ornamented with 
innumerable candles, and gifts from loving 
and beloved hearts. The pre-historic times 
of the Teutons must be studied archseologi- 
cally, philologically, and, above all, in tracing 
analogies between their conceptions and the 
Indian, Persian, and Greek mythologies. 

2. The second was a legendary period, 2. Tie 
during which the Teutons emerged from their p e ^ ]ary 
woods and conquered the world, infusing a 
new, exclusively Teutonic spirit, into Medi- 
aeval and Modern History. This period is no 
less difficult to study, because, as we ob- 
served, at the beginning of this chapter, 
we are compelled continually to refer to 
foreigners for the scanty information con- 
cerning the Teutons, and their various nations 
and nationalities. For their Sagas, epic 
poems, heroic songs, and travels, their annals 
and chronicles in rhymes, are mingled with 
such an amount of legendary matter, that it 
is sometimes even harder to find the reliable 
historical ground, than in the ancient myths 

2 N 



546 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

of Greece or Rome. Literature, especially 
the historical, was exclusively in the hands 
of priests, particularly of abbots and monks, 
who were often honest, painstaking, and 
sincere ; but they saw every historical inci- 
dent through the dim glass of their painted 
windows, from the gloomy recesses of their 
secluded cloisters, and were never taught to 
distinguish probabilities from improbabili- 
ties. 
3. The 3. During the third historical period the 

historical (JifHculty arises from the immense amount of 
material which has to be sifted, but we shall 
point out the best authorities of the principal 
ruling nations. The Italians and Germans, 
like the ancient Greeks, possessed true and 
classical Historians ; whilst the English and 
French, like the ancient Romans, had great 
and highly meritorious writers, who, how- 
ever, from causes to which we shall call 
attention, never rose to the level of those 
unbiassed minds which can glance beyond 
narrow national or party circles. 
Difference The Teutons did not develop, like the 
the^Greek Greeks, from within, but from without The 
and Teuton Greeks absorbed all the influences which 
nfe V nt. 0p " ^ ne y nac *- received from Asia and Egypt, and 
immediately transformed them into Greek 
originals. The fundamental conceptions were 
often foreign, but they were at once brought 
into exclusively Greek forms. The Teutons, 
on the contrary, if we except the English, 
Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, and Scandi- 
navians, all strove to forget their original 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 547 

mode of thinking, and to adopt that of the 
higher lingual and political culture with 
which they came in contact, in conquering 
the Romans. The conquerors conquered 
materially, and were conquered spiritually. 
The Teutons destroyed the Roman Empire, 
and yet submitted for centuries to Roman 
customs, Roman manners, Roman institu- 
tions, Roman laws, and the Roman-catholic 
faith. After a thousand years they had to 
turn back, through torrents of blood, to their 
own primitive institutions, tempered by what 
was emotional and universal, elevating and 
purifying, in the Christian religion. They 
had to go back to the classical Greeks, purified 
from all Roman alloy, to the liberty which 
they had enjoyed when free and independent 
in their primeval woods ; they had to purge 
Christianity from all interpolations, impo- 
sitions, and contortions — at least, to a certain 
degree ; and to do away with their half- 
Roman, half-ecclesiastical, social, and poli- 
tical organization. They had to emerge Crusade?, 
from their castles and cloisters to fight the ^venTiois 
Mahometans in the Crusades, learning from and 
them practically a higher kind of Chris- discoveries - 
tianity, than was being taught them by their 
own priests. They had to invent gunpowder, 
telescopes, and microscopes, the manufacture 
of paper from rags, the art of printing with 
moveable types, to discover America, and to 
found independent Universities, in which 
Science, and not prejudice, Reason, and not 
blind faith, were enthroned as man's guiding 

2n2 



548 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

powers. The Teutons of Europe from that 
time uninterruptedly progressed in arts, 
sciences, inventions, discoveries, freedom, 
and morals, in the ratio in which they relin- 
quished superstition and gloomy supernatural 
investigations. The end of the intellectual 
struggle against arbitrary assumptions has 
come. Great and influential divines even, 
follow the irresistible current of modern ideas. 
The The Church was for a certain period the 

Church only regulator of the two forces working 
state. in Humanity, and used intellect to support 
credulity, formalism, and dogmatism in the 
State. The State at last succeeded, with the 
help of free towns and independent citizens, 
in placing itself on an equal footing with the 
Church, and since the Reformation, has at- 
tained its true position, extinguished the 
fires of the Inquisition, checked the persecut- 
ing intolerant spirit of the priesthood, of 
whatever denomination, conceded freedom 
of thought and inquiry, and protected man 
in his most sacred right to develop his in- 
tellectual freedom in whatever direction, if 
he only observed the immutable laws of 
morals. 
The three This momentous historical development, 
phases ' which must be first studied in its general 
s°ondi outlines, before any Historian can attempt to 
to these work details into it, may be reduced to three 
periods, grand phases :— 

First I. The First phase shows us the Teutons as 

ph*se. converts to Christianity. Universal brother- 
hood manifested itself in universal wars, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 549 

bloodshed, sanguinary hatred, animosity, 
and a dissolution of all social ties. The 
State altogether disappeared. Reality was 
sacrificed to an assumed, sometimes very 
lofty, ideality. The ancient Gods vanished, 
and were turned into evil spirits. Men 
heard glad tidings from all sides, and the 
intellectual and moral forces of humanity 
were engaged in building up a new state of 
things, in the dreamy forms of an uncertain 
social and political future. During this 
period no history was written. Litanies 
were chanted, interrupted only by the wild 
battle cries of enterprising knights and 
nobles, who found their greatest delight in 
warfare and murder. Some scanty poems 
mark the transition to a more settled state, 
when epic poetry became a possibility. 
This period corresponds to the pre-Homeric 
times, when rhapsodists and singers wan- 
dered about and recited detached pieces as in- 
dependent poems; which, afterwards cemented 
together by Homer's genius, became the Iliad 
and the Odyssee. These singers and poets 
were, with the Scandinavians, Skalds ; with 
the Welsh, Irish, and English, Bards ; with Bards, 
the Germans, Minnesdnger ; and with the Minne- 
French, Trouveres or Troubadours. From the sanger and 

; i £ x i l Trouv&ree. 

contents ot tneir songs, we may make our- 
selves acquainted with their social condition. 
They sang of sanguinary battles, of victo- 
ries, coronations, and ducal elections, mar- 
riages, births, and deaths. A song in general 
was called a Liod (the German, Lied ; the 



550 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Different 
kinds of 
songs. 



" Sagas," 
and their 
division. 



The 

Volsung 
" Saga," 



English, lay) ; if accompanied by the harp, 
it was Slagr ; if a real epic poem, it was 
called Bragr (we are sorry to say that the 
word is still used as, to brag, in the sense of 
to boast, to swagger, to bluster, haying lost, 
and yet retained, some of its original mean- 
ing). The name for records of mournful 
incidents was Queda (we have from it in 
English, to quail) ; if a real song of mourning, 
it was called Gratr (from which we have the 
word, to grate; as harsh words grate on the ear). 
If the Skalds or Bards wished to laugh at any- 
one, their song was called Nid (in German, 
u Nichts," nothing ; the word lives in the 
English Nidget, a simpleton). Singers of love- 
songs were Mansaungr (man stood for the 
German, Minne, love, saungr, for songster, or 
singer) ; songs in praise of some one were Lof 
(love-songs). A song addressed to a noble- 
man, Jarl, or smaller prince, was called FlocJcr 
(a crowd of words) ; if addressed to a king, 
celebrated hero, or, later, to a saint or martyr, 
it was called Drapa (from which we have the 
word, to drape, to ornament). Very few of 
these songs are preserved ; amongst those 
extant is a poem celebrating Thorns deeds 
and battles which corresponds very much to 
the myths about Herakles. 

To this first phase belong the " Sagas," of 
which we possess two kinds. 

[a.) Mythological; and 

\b.) Historical. 

Of the former we may mention two ; the 
" Volsung Saga," and the "Niflung Saga." 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY'. 551 

In both we can trace some historical under- and the 
currents, which it is impossible to detach ^s^f" 
from the mythic layers in which they are 
embedded. 

The historical Sagas form the transition 
links between mythic and epic poetry, 
and the later Annals and Chronicles. But 
even in these writings, though they pretend 
to be more or less exclusively historical, we 
find that the influence of Christianity has 
had its effect on the marvel-loving Teutons ; 
and the emotional, supernatural, and impos- 
sible are so closely interwoven with the na- 
tural and possible, that we are unable to say, 
where the credible begins and the incredible 
ceases. Historically, this epoch ends with 
Charlemagne, " Carolus Magnus," or Charles 
the Great. 

II. During the Second phase an omnipotent The second 
Hierarchy, supported by feudalism, developed p 8 
itself; counteracted by the small States in 
Germany, Italy, France, and the communities 
in England. The principle of Christian inde- 
pendence and individual freedom was entirely 
perverted, and man was subjected to an or- 
ganized spiritual power that ruled by means 
of the State principles of heathen Rome, with 
an intermixture of ancient Teutonic social 
institutions, which afterwards formed an ele- 
ment of resistance to the Papal Authority. 
Enthusiasm and despondency ; humility and 
pride ; daring exploits and cowardly sub- 
mission ; barbarous passion and scholarly 
refinement; chastity and the grossest licen- 



iase. 



552 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

tiousness, — a violent action and reaction of 
the moral and intellectual forces working in 
Humanity, characterized this period. The 
different national layers became crystallized ; 
Italy, France, Germany, England and Spain 
assumed more defined customs and manners, 
laws and privileges ; subordinating State and 
School to the ecclesiastical authority. The 
priest and the monk ruled supreme ; but from 
the very cloisters, the hot-beds of idleness and 
unnaturalness, the suppressed and misdirected 
intellectual force of Humanity suddenly burst 
forth, forcing the iron gates of tyranny, 
with the very weapons forged in the dark 
vaults of superstition and ignorance, and ex- 
posing the insolent presumption of a worldly, 
degraded Church, that, beneath the cloak of 
religion, had dared to violate God's eternal 
laws, under which man was destined to de- 
velop, as a free agent in a free world. 

This phase ends with the reign of the 
Emperor Charles V., in the first half of the 
sixteenth century a.d. During this second 
period, the aspect of Asia and Europe was 
again changed by a fanatical moral revolution 
against the degenerated Eastern Christians, 
induced by Mahomet. The Arabs, another 
branch of the Semitic family of mankind, 
influenced the historical development of Hu- 
manity in a more philosophical direction than 
the Jews. 
The third III. The Third phase is the circle in which 
modern History revolves. The secular spirit, 
freed from the fetters of the supernatural^ 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 553 

devoted itself with an ever-increasing power 
to science and true morals, as the outgrowths 
of man's own self-conscious exertions. Recti- 
tude, probity, and intellectual activity form 
its basis, not because they are enjoined by 
one or another religious teacher, but because 
these qualities are the only possible bases of 
man's existence. The emotional found ex- 
pression in the revival of art, and the intel- 
lectual endeavoured to solve the mysteries of 
all the phenomena of the Universe on the 
path of experience. This period began with Modem 
the Reformation, and proclaimed the prin- tmeSl 
ciple of a free and unfettered individuality in 
matters of intellect. It continues in Italy, 
France, England, Germany, and recently 
also in Russia, to wage war against precon- 
ceived prejudices, and an unnatural distur- 
bance of the balance of the forces working 
in Humanity. Beneath the rule of Charle- 
magne, the spirit, that had swayed the ancient 
world under Alexander the Great, was re- 
vived. Alexander had dreamt of a Universal 
Monarchy under the sway of Greek culture ; 
Charlemagne hoped to establish the dominion 
of the Cross, and Mahomet, that of the Cres- 
ent. 

During the times preceding Charles V., a 
revival of the Greek ideal world, translated 
into monk's Latin, took place. Unity no 
longer existed. Different States were formed 
to give effect to individualism in national 
bodies and corporations ; and the age of 
Perikles was restored without a Perikles, but 



554: 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



The vast 
historical 
literature 
of these 
phases. 



Snorre 
Sturleson. 



with the same force working in Humanity, 
producing inventions, discoveries, and a re- 
vival of art. 

This phase corresponds to the ancient Ro- 
man world. There is the same tendency to 
regulation, but with this great difference, 
that, what was with the Romans brute force, 
blind despotism, and dry organization's now 
the result of intellect finding: law in every 
particle of the Universe. Man, freed from 
all imaginary influences, devotes himself to 
a solution of the most complicated social 
questions, in order to draw the greatest pos- 
sible number of human beings into the circle 
of useful happiness. Having laid down these 
general principles, and having traced their 
working in the Greeks and Romans, we may 
treat the Historiography of Mediaeval and 
Modern times with comparative brevity. The 
details increase, and might be increased ad 
infinitum; the law working in them must 
necessarily be the same. So soon as Historians 
undertake their work with a correct under- 
standing of some generally pervading prin- 
ciple, the task of grouping and arranging 
their details will offer them no difficulties. 

The Historical Literature of these Epochs 
is as curious and poetical, as it is vast 
in extent. By the side of epic poetry we 
have already some dry matter-of-fact Chro- 
nicles. Amongst these is the history of the 
" Lives or Deeds of the Norwegian Kings," 
by Snorre Sturleson. This work is called, 
from the opening words, " Heimskringla " 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 555 

(Home Circle), and endeavours to describe 
in prose what Skalds and Bards sang in 
poetry. Though these and similar Books 
abound in interesting material, Historians 
cannot well use them as reliable authorities. 
The Danes and Swedes possess ancient chro- Danes and 
nicies of the same character, but they are Swedes - 
all interwoven with myths and legends, 
and must be treated with the greatest cau- 
tion ; rather as literary curiosities, reflecting 
the mode of thinking of these secluded, in- 
domitable Northern Teutons, than as real 
historical works. 

The Germans developed a greater literary Ti»e 
activity, and from the oldest times possessed 
two different kinds of Chronicles. Universal 
Chronicles ; such as, intended to make 
the people acquainted in rhymes with the 
Histories of the world from its creation; 
and Particular Chronicles, treating of single 
nations, towns, or even only families. The 
first kind have no value, as they are gene- 
rally transcripts of the Old Testament. One 
of the most celebrated is the ' ' Universal 
Chronicle," by Rudolph von Ems, coming Rudolph 
down to the death of Solomon. voa Ems - 

The Imperial Chronicle (Kaiserchronik), The 
written by a monk, may be mentioned. It chronicle. 
contains legends, miraculous incidents, fables, 
anecdotes, and some real historical facts. 
The Aryan element of India pervades these 
writings ; all is gorgeous and gigantic ; no- 
thing is systematized or brought into proper 
proportion. A wild and unruly imagination 



556 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

delights in marvellous exploits, and this ten- 
dency increased, the more history and learn- 
ing fell into the hands of priests and monks. 
The The World's Chronicle (Weltchronik), 

chronicle by Ennerkel or Einenkel, a Canon of St. 
Stephen's, at Vienna, belongs, like the 
" Chronicle " of Ottocar yon Horneck, to the 
same class of literary productions. The 
latter composed a general Chronicle in 
83,000 verses. Another Chronicle, record- 
ing the " Loss of the Holy Land," in 6,730 
verses, forms one of another class of special 
Chronicles, treating of single German coun- 
tries, or even towns. 
virgin With the Germans everything assumed a 

Joetry. religious garb. Mythic poetry very soon 
vanished altogether, and made room for 
legends, and there is a whole u Virgin 
Mary " literature, written in Latin verses. 
Hymns were sung in honour of the 
Virgin, her seven sufferings, seven joys, 
miraculous influence, piety, and love, were 
described with admirable minuteness and 
accuracy. Next to the Virgin Mary, Cathe- 
rine, Margaret, and Veronica were sung and 
praised in hundreds of thousands of verses. 
Hartmann A sudden change took place through Hart- 

von der 9 u x • 

Aue. mann von der Aue, who wrote an epic poem 
under the title of u Gregorius auf dem 
Steine " (Gregory on the Rock), in 3,752 
verses, and transcribed the harrowing history 
of CEdipus (see page 91), turning the Greek 
hero into a Christian penitent, blending 
Greek mythical elements with legendary 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 557 

fables. This tendency became more prevalent 
as the writers advanced in knowledge and 
culture. More important to the study of Romances, 
the historical development of the European |^XJ* d 
nations, than either Annals or Chronicles, are prose. 
the romances, tales, and novels written in 
prose, generally known as the literature of 
" Chivalry," which still sway the minds of Chivalry, 
enthusiasts in our European States. In 
spite of so many analogies, there is a great 
difference between the East and the West. 
Chivalry is an inborn quality in man. If a 
little child fall into a river, numbers of men 
will rush into danger to save the helpless 
creature, and those who cannot assist will 
show deep distress. No matter under what 
zone we may find them, this peculiar quality 
is a distinguishing feature in both white and 
yellow men. Chivalry was the highest point 
which humanity reached in the culture of 
the fantastically emotional, and the wildly 
and indomitably passionate, but the eternal 
distinction between East and West is even 
here strongly marked. In the East the hero East and 
is passive ; in the West active. The daring West * 
warrior of the North blindly rushes into an 
even imaginary danger ; he does not con- 
sider, he does not reflect; he acts — action, 
in whatever shape, is his element. The North and 
North could never have given the world a South ' 
crucified suffering God as an object of 
worship. It was in the East, and South- 
East, that the idea of a suffering Deity took 
its origin. On the shores of the Nile the 



558 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

The incar- priests, thousands and thousands of years 
oSis 1 ° f a s°> worked out the melancholy story that 
the Supreme Being-, the concealed Lord, had 
become flesh in Osiris, to conquer evil, and 
in boundless love to redeem Humanity, by 
suffering a cruel death at the hands of his 
own brother, Typhon. This was the first 
assumed mystic immolation of the Deity for 
the welfare of mankind. It was an act of 
divine, yet passive, chivalry. The ancient 
Greeks could never understand this mystic 
self-sacrifice and indescribable humiliation of 
a God. They could not believe that the 
Lord of Hosts, the Master of the Universe, 
the Creator of all things, visible and invisible, 
could have assumed the body of a perishable 
human being, in order to teach men to be 
Passivity better. Yet this very exaggeration has 
Deity, and worked perfect marvels in shaping the 
activity in character of the European nations. To 
peop e. C01in ^ er .]3 a ] ance their raging and uncontrol- 
lable activity, a God dying in divine passivity 
was required. When the dying God will 
have fulfilled his mission, he will for ever 
descend from his Cross, and vanish in the 
saddest, yet brightest, myth that ever taught 
Humanity to find its own human level. 
The Persians, the Arabians, the learned in 
China, the Brahmans of India, and the 
ancient Greeks and Romans could never 
have grasped the grandeur of this passive 
God. They all yielded to power, and 
learned to bow to authority ; but the Teu- 
tonic world received a discipline to which it 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 559 

would never have otherwise submitted, in 
actively obeying an entirely passive God. 

This mystic incident in the historical 
development of mankind was quite natural 
in its working. The moral, passive, or 
static force, manifesting itself in a dying 
God in the East, reacted on the intellectual, 
active, or dynamic force in the West. East 
and West united, established a better balance 
between the two forces, and true civilization 
became possible. 

There can be no doubt that, so far as origin of 
Europe was concerned, the spirit of Chivalry ^oubtfS 
came from the fSouth — from Spain. It was 
imported by the Moors^ who either received 
it through Vandals from the North, or in- 
herited it from their Aryan brethren in 
Persia. So much is certain that the Heathen 
Teutons of the North, living in " Niflheim," 
eternally longed for a u Muspelheim ; " the 
general goal had always been before them, and 
now only received another name. The good 
Christian Knight, born in the u Niflheim " 
of sin and wickedness, had to look towards a 
blissful, heavenly " Muspelheim." First he 
did this in migrating from North to South ; 
and afterwards he tried it through chivalry. 
The dvnamic exertions of man's intellectual 
powers were always celebrated in verse and 
prose. Joshua, the warrior, is not less exalted 
among the Jews than Tsin-Che-Hoangti among 
the Chinese, Achilles among the Greeks, Rama 
and the Great Bh&ratta among the Indians, 
and Arthur among the Teutons. The Knights, 



560 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

who wrote chivalrous books, acted like 
knights ; the same heroic incidents that 
accelerated the flow of blood through heart 
and veins in the Greeks, sent a thrill of 
delight and admiration through the Teutons 
in the Mediaeval period. * The hero appears 
under different names, in different garbs, 
surrounded by different national customs ; 
but the heroic element is everywhere the 
same. In reading any one of these ro- 
mances and novels it is almost impossible to 
determine whether Spain, Provence, Wales, 
Scandinavia, Burgundy, or Westphalia was 
impor- its birthplace. To the Historian the " same- 
CMvabf to ness " °f these works is of the greatest impor- 
Historians. tance. The whole range of this chivalrous 
literature may be best classified under the 
following headings : 
King ( a ) Tales with reference to King Arthur 

the Round of the " Round Table;" equally numerous 
Table. { n Wales, England, France, Germany, and 
Spain. These tales form a whole cycle of 
mighty intellectual movements, that at the 
same time show in the brightest colours 
the historical incidents of nearly a thousand 
years in their monotonous, yet variegated, 
grandeur. They reflect the European spirit, 
preparing for, and enacting that great his- 
torical Interlude — the Crusades. 
Charie- ( /3 ) Tales relating incidents in the lives 

magne and o ^ ch ar i ema g ne and his Paladins, especially 

Paladins. Roland de Ronceval. These Romances 
prepared Europe for the dominion the 
spiritual world aspired to, and for a time 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 561 

attained by, the Popes of Rome, to whom 
emperors, kings, princes, dukes, and counts 
were merely faithful servants, carrying out 
God's eternal commands in a humble and 
submissive spirit. 

(7) The Romances containing the life and Amadis. 
deeds of Amadis, a son of King Perion of 
France, and the beautiful Elisina, the daugh- 
ter of King Gavinter of the Bretagne. There 
were several knights of this name. There 
was an Amadis of Greece, a grandson of the 
Gallic Amadis ; another was said to have 
been a grandson of Agesilaus, King of Kol- 
chis, who was descended from Alastraxerea, 
in the Caucasus ; another Amadis was the 
son of Florissel, the knight of the beautiful 
shepherdess. Finally, there was an Amadis of 
Trapezunt. The Amadis Romances belong 
to the Arthur or Charlemagne cycles of Spain. 
We find in them an intermixture of Classical, 
Oriental, and Christian elements. 

( ^ ) Romances describing Greek and Ro- Greek and 
man heroes, transformed into Christian heroes in 
knights, clad in steel armour, bearing swords Christian 
and spears that had the hallowed shape of l 
the Cross. 

( £ ) Romances in which animals are in- Romances 
troduced, endowed with reason, language, JJJJdtin 
human sentiments, feelings, passions, and and 
vices. Similar Fables were known in the fnimah. 
East, especially in India and Greece ; but 
these Teuton Romances, with their talking 
and acting animals, already satirically reflect 
the hypocrisy in Church and State. There 

2 



562 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

must have been some peculiar merit in 
"Remeke them, or the masterpiece " Reineke Fuchs" 
Fuchs." (Raynard the Fox) would not have exercised 
so great a charm on the very greatest genius 
of our times, the immortal Goethe. To 
Historians these Romances and " Rein eke 
Fuchs " are of great importance. In them, 
though disguised, may be heard the very 
voice of Germany's clerically suppressed and 
oppressed intellectual force. And the voice of 
the Time is the true voice of God. Through 
the deep satire we may discern the social 
condition of the Middle Ages, in which a 
positive spiritual law was to rule the world, 
whilst the wildest passions were let loose. 
" Peace on earth and goodwill to men" 
was the great cry, that resounded through 
churches, chapels, monasteries, cloisters, 
nunneries, banqueting halls, castles, towns, 
boroughs, and hamlets, and everywhere there 
was strife and discord. Courtiers, prelates 
and princes were worse than petty thieves 
and murderers. Marriage vows were made 
but to be broken ; religion was a mere 
mockery to cloak the most horrible vices ; 
saints abounded to uphold credulity and her 
foster-sister ignorance, both dressed in fine 
and costly, but false and worthless, shreds of 
learning. Cunning, calumny, and treachery 
were the abominable " Trinity," that was 
most piously worshipped. To rob poor and 
rich with equal impudence ; to amass riches, 
wherever they could be obtained ; to revel 
and feast, — became the duty of the upper, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 563 

middle, and lower classes. With these sati- 
rical Fables the conflict between Church and 
State was begun, and carried on till morals 
and intellect gained the upper hand. 

( K ) Ecclesiastical Romances, in which the Ecdesi- 
clerical element must be studied in its literary Romances 
activity. These works were a continuation 
of the philosophical teachings of the Fathers 
in a popular form, designed to reach all the 
layers of society. We possess in them a 
curious storehouse of man's perverted in- 
genuity. The deeds and sufferings of Chris- 
tian martyrs and saints are related as real 
facts. The imagination runs riot far more 
wildly than in the Greek and Indian myths, 
without being tempered by a symmetrical 
love of the beautiful. 

( 7} ) Arcadian Romances, as contrasts to Arcadian 
the noisy tales of roaming and fighting Romances - 
knights. We find in these works a peculiar 
idyllic world, constructed with pious imagina- 
tion, reflecting a longing for rural simplicity 
and happiness. This literature was revived 
in France, Italy, and Germany during the 
middle of the last century, just at a time 
when the greatest political convulsion was 
on the eve of breaking out. 

( ) Comic Romances, in which History Comic 
was made use of to impress the people with E,omances - 
some moral truths, given in a pleasing form. 

( i ) Novels, with incidents from every-day Novels and 
life. Little sketches, in which the popular Tales - 
mode of thinking is faithfully reflected. . , , 

tth -i i ° t . • J • n ,. Annals and 

Whilst we may obtain some information Chronicles. 

2 o 2 



564 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

from these different works, as also from the 
two great epic poems of the Teutons, the 
" Niebelungen " and the "Kudrun," corre- 
sponding to the " Iliad" and " Odyssee," 
we can scarcely gather any reliable facts 
from the innumerable Annals and Chronicles 
of the Teutonic nations. The Italians, dur- 
ing the Middle Ages, most generally followed 
Greek and Latin models, and the French, 
English, and German Chroniclers did the 
same. Troy was their historical starting- 
point. All towns and countries had been 
founded by some descendant of one of the 
Greek or Trojan heroes. It is hard to know 
which to laugh at most, the incredible igno- 
rance and stupidity, or the unbounded cre- 
dulity and prejudice with which these books 
were compiled, The language in which they 
were written was a kind of Latin, known as 
Monk's Latin, or amongst the Germans as 
" Kitchen Latin." There was, however, some 
advantage in this, as a spirit of Universalism 
was fostered throughout the whole of Chris- 
tendom. This unity of language promoted 
unity of thought and treatment ; and, if we 
take up one or two of these Mediaeval Annals 
or Chronicles, we know them all. So soon as — - 
in the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth 
centuries — the Chronicles were written in the 
vernacular, we obtain some reliable facts — 
dry facts, strung together by means of dates, 
but without critical discernment, and an 
overwhelming minuteness of utterly useless 
detail. We could fill pages with the mere 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 565 

titles of the Annals and Chronicles which 
were written in Europe. The Chinese, as we 
have already said (see page 25), possessed 
such Chronicles for nearly 4,000 years, and 
their historical records are far more reliable, 
since thev, unlike our Annalists and Chroni- 
clers, did not continually embellish them with 
legends and tales concerning the miracles per- 
formed by martyrs or saints. The pious Abbot Abbot 
Herigers, towards 1007 a.d., endeavoured to Herl § ers - 
put an end to the systematic lying, which 
formed the most characteristic feature in all 
these historical compilations. As specimens 
of these works, w^e will more particularly 
mention those of England, with some remarks 
on those of other nations. 

The Chronicle of Ethelwerd was written Ethelwerd. 
by a descendant of King Alfred, who was 
therefore called u noble and magnificent." 
These Chronicles were generally intended for 
the perusal of some emperor, king, or noble 
lady, but more often to be deposited in the 
library of some Bishop, Abbot, or Monas- 
tery. Ethelwerd dedicates his book " To 
Matilda, the most eloquent and true hand- 
maid of Christ," and, in imitation of Cicero, 
Pliny, or the Romans in general, he adds, 
" Ethelwerd the Patrician, health in the 
Lord!" He promises to write " concerning 
the coming of our first parents out of Ger- 
many into Britain, their numberless wars 
and slaughters, and the dangers which they 
encountered among the waves of the ocean." 
He tells us that " the Father of Hengist and 



566 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Horsa was Wyhrtels (Whitgils with others), 
their grandfather, Wecta, and their great- 
grandfather, Withar, whose father was Woden, 
who also was king of a multitude of bar- 
barians;" and these two gave Britain the new 
name of Anglia (England). At first the 
Anglo-Saxons were invited to help the Bri- 
tons for a certain stipend; the Britons re- 
fuse to pay ; discord arises, they take up 
arms, and the Saxons drive the Britons into 
certain narrow isthmuses of the island, and 
themselves hold possession of the island from 
sea to sea, even unto the present time." 
Dates head the paragraphs, and are followed 
by names and accounts of battles, wars, spoils 
carried away, murders committed, and blows 
delivered, about four pages being filled with 
these historical facts. 

The second Book begins with a descrip- 
tion of how Augustine (see page 486) " was 
sent by the blessed Pope Gregory the Great." 
Ethelwerd in these passages grows quite 
eloquent, but it is the usual eloquence of sense- 
less cant. " As Divine Providence, mercifully 
looking down upon all things from all eter- 
nity, is accustomed to rule them, not by ne- 
cessity, but by its powerful superintendence, 
and remaining always immoveable in itself, 
and disposing the different elements by its 
word, and the human race to come to the 
knowledge of the truth by the death of 
His only-begotten Son, by whose blood 
the four quarters of the world are re- 
deemed, so now, by His servant, doth it 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 567 

dispel the darkness in the regions of the 
West." This was the scientific language 
held by Historians. Our Chronicler next 
describes the scene when the Angles (angels), 
whom he calls "men of unknown tongue, 
and comely to look on," are brought before 
Pope Gregory. " The holy man, admiring 
the beauty of their countenances, asked them 
with earnestness from Vhat country they 
came. The young men, with downcast 
looks, replied that they were Angles. ' Are 
you Christians,' said the holy man, ' or 
heathens ? ' ' Certainly not Christians,' said 
they, ' for no one has yet opened our 
ears.' Then the holy man, lifting up his 
eyes, replied, c What man, when there are 
stones at hand, lays a foundation with 
reeds ? ' They answer, ' No man of pru- 
dence.' c You have well said,' answered 
he ; and he straightway took them into a 
room, where he instructed them in the 
divine oracles, and afterwards washed them 
with the baptism of Christ ; and, further, he 
arranged with them that he would go with 
them into their country. When the Romans 
heard of this, they opposed his words, and 
were unwilling to allow their pastor to go so 
far from home. The blessed Pope Gregory, 
therefore, seeing that the people were op- 
posed to him, sent with the men aforesaid 
one of his disciples, who was well instructed 
in the divine oracles, by name Augustine, 
and with him a multitude of brethren. 
When these men arrived the English re- 



&68 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

ceived the faith, and erected temples, and 
our Saviour Jesus Christ exhibited innumer- 
able miracles (the details of which the Chro- 
nicler very wisely does not enumerate) to 
his faithful followers, through the prayers of 
the bishop, St. Augustine, at whose tomb, 
even to this day, no small number of mira- 
cles are wrought, with the assistance of our 
Lord." 
Want of The most remarkable feature in these 
logic, chronicles is their utter want of logic. Facts 
are brought into causal relations that cannot 
possibly have any connection. Ethelwerd 
tells us quite seriously, " that the moon was 
eclipsed on the very night of Christ's na- 
tivity, and in the same year King Egbert 
reduced under his power all that part of the 
kingdom which lies to the south of the River 
Humber." It is very difficult to see what a 
total eclipse of the moon can have to do 
with a certain conquest in the same year. 
Students of History must constantly guard 
against such assumptions, of which the better 
Greek and Roman writers — nay, even the 
annalists of China — are hardly ever guilty. 
Annals by Far more interesting are the Annals of the 

stT^ik rei & n of Alfred - ( or Alfred) the Great, by 
Asser, of Saint David's. Though the miracu- 
lous prevails, we certainly obtain an insight 
into the character of the king, and the state 
over which he ruled. The interference of 
the Lord is continually called for. He re- 
wards or punishes, and saints are always 
performing miracles. At his nuptials, which 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 569 

were celebrated by innumerable multitudes 
of both sexes, the king was seized in the 
presence of the people with a sudden and 
overwhelming pain, a malady which was 
caused by the favour and fascination of the 
people who surrounded him ; or by some 
spite of the devil, who is ever jealous of the 
good ; or by an unusual kind of fever. Once, 
however, u divine Providence so ordered it 
that when he was on a visit to Cornwall, for 
the purpose of hunting, and had turned out 
of the road to pray in a certain chapel, in 
which rests the body of St. Guerir (meaning 
in reality the holy Healer), and now also St. 
Noet rests there — for King Alfred (iElfred) 
was always from his infancy a frequent 
visitor of holy places, for the sake of prayer 
and- almsgiving — he prostrated himself for 
private devotion," and was of course restored 
to health by the Almighty, who afflicted him 
with the terrible disease in consequence of 
the King's prayers when he was a youth, 
and could not resist certain carnal desires. 
God sends diseases and grants relief, not at 
His pleasure, but according to the prayers of 
His creatures. Such degrading notions of 
the Deity have been constantly kept alive in 
the minds of the people, and have barred 
the way of natural science. We find, on 
the other hand, that this king was the first 
who devoted himself seriously to learning, 
and a wise and just administration of the 
people, based on the individual freedom of 
every honest man. ^rT^OEFe^ 

N £W YORK, N. Y, 
^ LI6RA BJ 




570 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Geoffrey, Next we have the remarkable British 
deacon of History by Geoffrey, Archdeacon of Mon- 
Mon- mouth. This work was dedicated to Robert, 
™ ( d u ' Earl of Gloucester, a natural son of King 
Waiter, Henry I. The Archdeacon was aided in his 
deacon of most learned and truthful work by Walter 
Oxford, (supposed to have been Walter Mapes) 
Archdeacon of Oxford. We have in this 
history the product of the combined intel- 
lects of two dignitaries of the Church. Arch- 
deacon Geoffrey tells us in his preface that 
he has not swelled his pages with rhetorical 
flourishes. Both Archdeacons do not think 
it wrong to copy Bede, Orosius and others, 
without so much as mentioning their authori- 
ties. They inform us that Britons, Romans, 
Picts and Scots inhabited England, " where- 
of the Britons before the rest did formerly 
possess the whole island from sea to sea, till 
divine vengeance, punishing them for their 
pride, made them give way to the Picts and 
Saxons.' 7 " After the Trojan War," says the 
third chapter of this interesting History, 
^neas. " 2Eneas, flying with Ascanius from the 
destruction of their city, sailed to Italy, 
where he was honourably received by King 
Latinus." It would be difficult to ascertain 
who this king was. The kind reception 
raised against him the envy of Turnus, king 
of the Rutuli. 2Eneas gained the victory, 
and having killed Turnus, obtained the king- 
dom of Italy, and with it Lavinia, the 
Ascanius. daughter of Latinus. " After his death, As- 
canius, succeeding to the kingdom, built 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 571 

Alba on the Tiber, and begat a son named 
Sylvius, who, in pursuit of a private amour, 
took to wife a niece of Lavinia. The damsel 
soon after conceived, and the father, Asca- 
nius, coming to the knowledge of it, com- 
manded his magicians to consult of what sex 
the child should be. When they had satis- 
fied themselves in the matter, they told him 
she would give birth to a boy, who would 
kill his father and mother, and, after travel- 
ling over many countries in banishment, 
would at last arrive at the highest pitch of 
glory. The woman brought forth a son, 
and died at his birth. The child was called 
Brutus. After fifteen years the child accom- Brutus. 
panied his father in hunting, and killed him 
undesignedly by the shot of an arrow, and 
was expelled for this heinous deed from 
Italy." Brutus went to Greece, where he 
found the posterity of Helenus, son of Pri- 
amus, kept in slavery by Pandrasus, King of 
the Greeks, against whom he waged war, 
after having sent him the following letter, 
which, together with the whole tale, was a 
forgery, but which we quote in full to show 
how History was, and is, generally written by 
learned divines :— 

" Brutus, General of the remainder of the The letter 
Trojans, to Pandrasus, King of the Greeks, ° f |(^ tus 
sends greeting. As it was beneath the dig- Pandrasus. 
nity of a nation, descended from the illus- 
trious race of Dardanus, to be treated in 
your kingdom otherwise than the nobility 
of their birth required, they have betaken 



572 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

themselves to the protection of the woods. 
For the j have preferred living after the 
manner of wild beasts, upon flesh and herbs, 
with the enjoyment of liberty, to continuing 
longer, in the greatest luxury, under the 
yoke of slavery. If this gives your Majesty 
any offence, impute it not to them, but par- 
don it ; since it is the common sentiment of 
every captive to be desirous of regaining his 
former dignity. Let pity therefore move 
you to bestow on them freely their lost 
liberty, and permit them to inhabit the 
thickest of the woods, to which they have 
retired to avoid slavery. But if you deny 
them this favour, then, by your permission 
and assistance, let them depart into some 
foreign country." 
Brutus After many vicissitudes, the companions 

Sea! °f Brutus sailed to Africa ; thence they came 
to the Philenian altars, and to a place called 
Salinas, and sailed between Ruscicada and 
the mountains of Azara ; the discovery of 
which places, Historians or Geographers 
Arrives at would find a difficult task. Brutus then 
quitame. en f- erec [ Aquitaine with Corineus, where Gof- 
farius Pictus was king, who was routed by 
Brutus. He ravaged Aquitaine with fire and 
sword, and came to a place where Tours 
now stands, " which he afterwards built," as 
Homer testifies. (To quote Homer as an 
authority for all this nonsense may be con- 
sidered the very climax of historical impu- 
dence.) They passed through Gaul, and 
fought many battles, in which they were 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 573 

always victorious, for, besides Corineus, 
Brutus was accompanied by his nephew, a 
Trojan, named Turonus. From this Turonus 
the town of Tours received its name. He 
was of immense strength, and alone killed 
600 men with his sword. Yet the more they 
killed of the enemy, the more numerous 
they grew, till at last Brutus and his fol- 
lowers took to their ships to find the island, 
the goddess had promised him, and he arrived 
on the coast of Totness. The island which Reaches 
they reached was called Albion, and was ^Albion, 
inhabited by none but a few giants. Brutus 
drove the giants into the caves of the moun- 
tains, and divided the country among his 
companions, who began to till the soil and 
build houses, so that in a short time the 
country looked like a place that had been 
long inhabited. Brutus called the island 
after his own name, Britain, and the people 
Britons. He travelled through the whole 
land, and, having seen it with his own eyes, 
resolved to build a city on the Thames, 
which he called New Troy ; after a time it 
was called Trinovantum. But afterwards, 
when Ludy the brother of Cassibellaun, who 
made war against Julius Caesar, obtained the 
government, he surrounded the town with 
stately walls, and called it the City of Lud, Lud's 
from which we have Lud's town or London. London 
When Guendoloena had reigned fifteen years 
she placed Maddau on the throne ; this 
was when Samuel the prophet governed 
in Judsea, Sylvius iEneas was yet living, 



574 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

and Homer was esteemed a famous orator 
and poet. 

Ebraucus was a man of great stature and 
wonderful strength. He invaded Gaul with 
a fleet, and built the city Kaerebrauc, that 
is, the City of Ebraucus (now York), at the 
time when David reigned in Judaea, and 
Sylvius Latinus in Italy, and Grad, Nathan, 
and Asaph prophesied in Israel. Such 
mixtures of Latin, Jewish, and British 
characters were regarded as the height of 
learning, and the great evil was, that books 
with such statements, all duly dated, were 
written by divines and priests, to whom 
the people looked up with confidence and 
trust. Who was to know, if they did not ? 
The know- The knights had to attend to their arduous 
kn^ 8 ht°s f duties of eating, drinking, fighting, hunting, 
seeking adventures, praying and sleeping. 
They had no time to devote themselves to 
study ; or, if any of them had studied and 
found that the clerical author was wrong, 
they would not have dared to publish the 
fact, for fear of being silenced by charitable 
means — that is, either being burned or excom- 
municated. For Literature throughout the 
whole of Europe was very early placed under 
the supervision of papal and clerical authority. 
Not one syllable could be written ; or, after 
the invention of the art of printing, printed, 
without clerical or official authority. England, 
insulated as she was, suffered not less than 
any Continental country from this spiritual 
tyranny, that systematically destroyed free 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 575 

thought in its very bud. Whilst the oppres- 
sion on the Continent was official, in England 
an equally severe unofficial oppression checked 
every free thought in religious and scientific 
matters. It is assumed that when the Refor- 
mation took place greater freedom set in. 
But this is another of those current fallacies 
which are often taken for granted for cen- 
turies, and the people themselves do not see 
what tyranny is often practised under the 
charming and alluring title of u Freedom." 
What papal and imperial authority did on 
the Continent, in Italy, France, Spain, and 
Germany, the collective power of the preju- 
diced masses accomplished in England. A Difficulties 
writer in England was compelled to belong to j* 10 !™ 1 
a sect in religious, or to a party in political, toriansin 
matters. His individual freedom was only so En s land - 
far guaranteed that he was permitted to join 
a sect or party ; but woe to him if he should 
find out that his party was not infallible. 
He was then cast out by his former friends ; 
and, if his allegiance was not very advanta- 
geous to the opposition, he could do nothing, 
for he was " silenced to death." A punish- 
ment as bad, and often more cruel and detri- 
mental to the advancement of learning, than 
burning or murdering. It would be a great 
mistake to suppose that these powers have al- 
together lost their influence. Their oppressive 
tyranny is as cruel now, as it was in the times 
of the palmy days of the Inquisition. There 
are the same implacable, unrelenting priests, 
the same prejudiced zealots, the same credulous 



576 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

fanatics, who exclude honest opinions from 
the press, ignore unbiassed writings, calum- 
niate authors behind their backs, hinder them 
in speech and writing, and shut them out from 
their universities, in order that the dogmatic 
sleep of bigots may not be disturbed. Even 
now, in this free and independent England, 
they are capable of writing a History from 
which a whole century of the most brilliant 
efforts of England's mightiest deistic writers 
is omitted, simply because these writers were 
true to themselves and their convictions. The 
archives of governments, princes, and monas- 
teries are now open, and some copyists of 
manuscripts, w T ho call themselves Historians, 
unearth some of these records and publish them. 
But Chronicles like those of Geoffrey, Arch- 
deacon of Monmouth, or any other like docu- 
ments, can only serve to prove, how low must 
have been the intellectual stand-point of a pe- 
riod, in which such assertions obtained credit. 
The blending of profane and sacred writers is 
Biblical still customary. The so-called learned seek 
to support every assertion by some Biblical 
Reference, or by the narration of some extra- 
ordinary incident which has its corresponding 
record in Scripture. The writer then proves 
his veracity by the Miracle from Scripture, 
and the Scriptural Miracle is confirmed by 
an analogous occurrence at a later period ; 
as when Geoffrey tells us that Kaerleil (Car^ 
lisle), the town, was built " at the same time 
that Solomon began to build the temple of 
Jerusalem, and the Queen of Sheba came to 



references. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 577 

hear his wisdom; at which time, also, Sylvius 
Epitus succeeded his father Alba in Italy." 
The classical Sylvius is used (though he is 
not known to any other historical authority 
as having ever existed), as a confirmation of 
the building of the temple by Solomon, and 
both statements are made to prove how con- 
scientious, accurate, and learned the vener- 
able Archdeacon is in relating his facts. 
He tells us that under the reign of Bladud, 
the prophet Elias prayed that it might not 
rain upon earth, and it did not rain for three 
years and six months. Of this prince we 
are told that he was a very ingenious man, 
and taught necromancy in his kingdom ; that 
he attempted to fly to the upper region of 
the air with wings which he had prepared, 
and fell down upon the temple of Apollo, 
in the city of Trino van turn, where he was 
dashed to pieces. His son, King Leir King Leir 
(Lear), succeeded him. This is a part of ( Lear ^- 
Geoffrey's book which atones for many of 
his historical sins, because his account of 
King Leir was indirectly instrumental in 
inducing Shakespeare to write one of his most 
harrowing and grandest tragedies, which in 
the correctness of the delineation of parental 
weakness, and filial ingratitude and meanness, 
has never been, and will never be, surpassed. 
That violent Teutonic character, which so 
much required the soothing and comforting 
teachings of Christianity, can nowhere be 
studied to such advantage as in Shakespeare 
(see below). The minute details of King 

2 p 



578 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

" Leir's " life, which Geoffrey probably bor- 
rowed from some old ballad, sung by a bard 
to the melancholy strains of a harp, and 
transformed into real true History, were re- 
stored by Shakespeare to the realm in which 
they originated, the realm of fiction. But 
not every Geoffrey finds his Shakespeare, 
and in History it is better to dispense with 
mere fiction, however beautiful. 
Geoffrey's In England, down to the eighteenth cen- 

C ' hl °a kind ^ U1 T? Q eo $ Te y was looked upon as the greatest 
of u Lay- and most reliable authority; his writings 
Elble '" were made a kind of " Lay-Bible," which no 
one was allowed to doubt. His work was of 
course written in Latin, and was translated 
into English, 1718, and published at Oxford. 
In the preface the writer tries to prove that 
Geoffrey was even " a more faithful historian 
than he is generally considered." We can 
leave this question to its own merits. Geoffrey 
was the mere outgrowth of the spirit of his 
times ; and, if that spirit was composed in all 
its elements of prejudices, ignorance, pious 
and impious credulity, Geoffrey could not 
have written a truthful History, even had he 
intended to do so. The influence of his work 
on the development of mankind was immense. 
In his History he used all those stirring, 
emotional elements which are best fitted to 
stimulate moral and intellectual activity in a 
period of wild excitement. At a time when 
East and West were crossing swords — when 
everyone heard of miracles and marvels, and 
sternly believed in them, Geoffrey penned 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 579 

his great historical record, and gives us a 
most faithful account of the great Wizard, The 
Merlin, who was miraculously born of a vir- Merlin. 
gin, begotten by a phantom, which Geoffrey 
describes as that of a beautiful young man ; 
and when the learned Mangantius was asked 
his opinion whether such birth were possible, 
he said: " In the books of our philosophers, 
and in a great many histories, I found that 
several men have had the like origin, having 
been born of virgins who had visions, or 
dreams, or saw apparitions, and thus gave 
life to powerful men." Merlin was also a 
prophet, and knew all concerning the fight 
" between the white and red dragon." Of 
women he says, " that they shall become 
serpents, and all their motions shall be 
full of pride." His prophecies, which are 
given at length, had one aim — to arouse the 
knights of Christendom to redouble their 
activity, and to fulfil their great and glorious 
destiny, in saving mankind from the curse 
of infidelity. It was therefore necessary to 
have a Mahomet amongst the Christians, and 
Merlin was to be that spiritual prophet and 
miracle- worker, whilst Arthur was revived to 
be a second Charlemagne, and had to play the 
part of a chivalrous Mahomet, as a knight 
errant. Mahomet, when asked to perform 
miracles, refused, and yet very many miracles 
were attributed to him. Merlin, when asked 
to prophesy, refused, according to Geoffrey, 
with these words : ' i Mysteries of this kind 
are not to be revealed but when there is the 

2 p 2 



580 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

greatest necessity for it. If I should pretend 
to utter them for ostentation or diversion, 
the spirit that instructs me would be silent, 
and would leave me when I should have 
occasion for it." Zoroaster, more than a 
thousand years before Merlin, was made to 
give the same answer when Darius asked for 
prophecies and miracles. We see even in 
the minutest details that the same causes 
produce the same effects. Merlin, after all, 
Merlin and condescends to bring over from Ireland (Kil- 
the Giant's l a raus)the Giant's Dance — those huge stones, 
still existing on Salisbury Plain, known as 
stone, Stonehenge, forming one of those histori- 
henge * cal monuments which, in spite of all the 
" learned" archaeological nonsense written 
about them, remains an unsolved riddle. 
There is in Geoffrey's account of the miracu- 
lous transport of the gigantic stones an under- 
current of probability, which points to a much 
higher civilization at Merlin's period than is 
Traces of generally supposed. For the record says he 
civilization usec [ contrivances to move the stones ; and as 

ni the ' 

mythic soon as he applied them the stones moved with 
record. incredible facility. The fable no doubt refers 
to some knowledge of engineering, which 
must have appeared miraculous to the people, 
as science in general was looked upon as a 
kind of supernatural power. The narrative 
stimulated the activity of the English in the 
direction of engineering, and they certainly 
have never ceased to practise that art, and 
have produced by its means far greater 
miracles than those recorded of legislators, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 581 

prophets, apostles, martyrs, and saints. His- 
torians will have to investigate, whether 
imaginary miracles were not, to some extent, 
necessary to develop in Humanity the still 
more miraculous faculty of arts and sciences. 

Under the reign of King Uther Pendra- King 
gon, Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, came with ™ g e r n P a e nd 
his wife, Igerna, the greatest beauty of all Duke. 
Britain, at the king's bidding, to London. 
u No sooner had the King cast his eyes upon 
Igerna, among the rest of the ladies, than 
he fell passionately in love with her, and, 
little regarding the rest, made her the sub- 
ject of all his thoughts. She was the only 
lady that he continually served with fresh 
dishes, and to whom he sent golden cups by 
his confidants." The husband fell into a 
great rage, and left the court with his wife. 
Uther commanded him to return. Gorlois 
refused. Uther collected a large army, and 
invaded Cornwall. Gorlois placed his wife 
in safety at Tintagel (the ruins of which still 
exist), whilst he entered Dimilioc, where he 
was besieged by King Uther. A week 
passed, and the King pined away. At last Merlin 
he sent for Merlin, and asked for his help. ? alledmt0 

_.. . 7 . . r help. 

Merlin, the great prophet, assists the King 
with great kindness, though not in accord- 
ance with true Teutonic moral principles. 
By means of medicines he gives Uther the 
exact likeness of Gorlois; Ulfir he "meta- 
morphoses" into Jordan of Tintagel, and 
himself into Brieel. The three transformed 
men proceed to Tintagel, deceive the porter 



582 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

by saying that Gorlois had come back, and 
obtain admittance. Uther seduced the wife 
Arthur, of Gorlois, and Arthur was the fruit of this 
cowardly and immoral deed. Fortunately 
Gorlois was killed the same night, and Uther 
Transcrip- married Igerna. The whole tale is a distor- 
tions from ft 0J1 £ some scenes from the " Niebelun- 

"Niebei- genlied " (Niebelung Song), but with this 
ilea/' 1 " difference, that the poem is based on his- 
torical facts, like the " Iliad," whilst here 
poetry is turned into dry History, revolting 
in its matter-of-fact prosiness. It is remark- 
able that two pious Archdeacons should re- 
late these incidents without so much as a 
word of reprobation ; on the contrary, Ar- 
Arthur the thur is made the very pattern of a chivalrous 
chivalry? knight. In a battle against the Saxons, he 
prayed to the picture of the Virgin Mary, with 
which his shield was ornamented, and the 
blessed Virgin at once gave him strength to 
kill with his own hand four hundred and 
seventy Saxons. Whenever the clergy, with 
the bishops at their head, go forth to im- 
plore mercy, he grants it with tears in his 
eyes. He appoints archbishops, and rebuilds 
the destroyed churches. He adds to his 
government Ireland, Iceland, Gothland and 
the Orkneys; subdues Norway, Dacia, Aqui- 
taine and Gaul. He is crowned, with splen- 
did ceremonies ; holds a council with the 
kings under his sway, and the authors here 
imitate Herodotus (see page 159) or Thuki- 
dides (see page 170), and compose speeches 
which they give as having been delivered by 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 583 

the kings, thus proving that they had some 
knowledge of the ancient classical writers. 
War against Rome, then governed by Lu- 
cius Tiberius, is decided upon, and that 
ruler calls together the kings of the Gre- 
cians, Africans, Parthians, Medes, Egyp- 
tians, Spaniards, Phrygians, Libyans, Ba- 
bylonians, Bithynians, Syrians, &c, all 
mentioned by name, but none of whom ever 
existed. The Historians, however, required 
brilliant hosts, in order to magnify Arthur's 
prowess, and what History refused, their in- 
ventive imagination largely supplied. His- 
tory, like that of a certain period with the 
Greeks and Romans, was not yet altogether 
severed from fiction. Arthur is said to have The giant 
heard of a giant, of monstrous size, w T ho S Micha 1 
came from the shores of Spain, abducted the 
charming Helena, niece of Duke Hoel, and 
fled with her to the top of St. Michael's 
Mount (crowned by a castle, the ruins of 
which still exist). The giant was formid- 
able, whether attacked by sea or land. He 
overturned the enemy's ships with vast 
rocks, or killed their crews with darts, or 
"took them and devoured them half alive." 
Arthur in valiant fight killed this terrible 
giant. The Romans were put to flight 
when they encountered the Britons. Arthur 
took Suesia, and is made to tell his soldiers 
that " Britain has been made by them the 
mistress of thirty kingdoms." Lucius Tibe- 
rius was killed, and Arthur showed great 
kindness to the dead, for their bodies were 



584 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

decently buried, " each in his respective 

country." 
Giidas, These specimens will suffice to show how 

Nennms, j|j s ^ or y was generally written in the most 
Richard of learned circles of England. The works of 
Cirences- q il1>as ^ Nennius and Richard of Ciren- 

Bede. cester are not much better. Bede (Beda) 
long ruled supreme in Church History. 

Eddiusor Eddius or Heddius, also called Stephanus, 

Heddiu8 ' wrote a life of Wilfrid, Archbishop of York. 

Asser. Asser, of South Wales, renowned for his 
learning, was made Bishop of St. David's 
under Alfred the Great, and wrote Annals from 
the invasion of the Romans, under Julius 

Guiieimus. Caesar, down to his own times. Gulielmus, 
surnamed Pictaviensis, born at Poitou, wrote 
a History of William, Duke of Normandy, 
afterwards King of England, as William the 

inguifus. Conqueror. Ingulfus was educated at West- 
minster and Oxford, became secretary of 
William the Conqueror and abbot of Croy- 
land, and wrote Annals of the monastery, 
interspersed with historical incidents of a 

The Scotch general character. The Scotch have scarcely 

Chronicles an y records of this period, if we except some 
mythical Chronographies, which are entirely 
worthless. Even more incredible are the 
ancient Chronicles of Ireland. The impos- 
sible and improbable are exclusively culti- 
vated. As a curious specimen of these works 
we may mention the " Chronicle of Eri," 
being the History of the u Gaul Scios Iber," 
or the Irish people, translated from an ancient 
MS. in the Phoenician dialect of the Scythian 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 585 

(sic) language. By O'Connor. (London, 
1822. 4to.) In all of them imagination, 
firmly established in the saddle of credulity, 
on the steed of ignorance, wildly gallops 
through the realms of History. That the 
Church, the queen of nations, and the prin- 
cess of provinces, might be made tributary 
was the everlasting fear of these clerical his- 
torians ; they lamented "that the gold was 
obscured, and the most excellent colour (which 
is the brightness of God's word) changed ; 
that the sons of Sion (i.e., Holy Mother 
Church), once famous and clothed in the 
finest gold, grovelled in dung." Such 
lucubrations formed the fundamental ideas 
on which the variegated phenomena of His- 
tory were based. Britain was an island, 
" situated on almost the utmost border of 
the earth, towards the South and West, and 
poised in the divine balance, as it is said, 
which supports the whole world." The 
Chroniclers were faithfully copied, because 
the Scriptural influence was everywhere pre- 
dominant. So soon as any writer was raised 
into the position of an authority, he ruled 
unquestioned, and his works were as reve- 
rently believed in, as the records ascribed to 
Moses. A terrible mental stagnation was the 
effect of this blind worship of authority, 
which was, however, suddenly roused to 
violent activity. 

The Eastern Christians, altogether sepa- The 
rated from their brethren in the West, were ^eek™ ° r 
ruled by Emperors, who continued the reck- christians. 



586 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Michael 
III. and 
Basil. 
Constan- 
tino VII. 



less tyranny of the ancient Roman Emperors, 
with Greek perfidy and cunning. Michael III. 
was murdered by Basil, who usurped his 
throne. Constantine VII., called Porphy- 
rogenitos (meaning, born in the purple) ruled 
under the influence of his worthless mother, 
Zoe, " and a succession or council of seven 
regents, who pursued their interest, gratified 
their passions, abandoned the republic, sup- 
planted each other, and finally vanished in 
the presence of a soldier," Romanus Leca- 
penus, who assumed the imperial power, 
with his three sons, degrading the lawful heir 
to the fifth rank in the Government. The 
usurper lived for licentious pleasures, whilst 
Constantine devoted himself to pious contem- 
plation, music and study, and thus became, 
in the end, master of his own empire. Yet 
he had no energy, though he acquired the 
East, and in his old age gave himself up to 
intemperance and sloth, and left the govern- 
ment in the hands of his wife, Helena, who 
placed her worthless courtiers at the head of 
affairs. At last he died, poisoned by Tlieo- 
Eomanus phano. His son Romanus II. followed ; a 
worthless and weak-minded character. " In 
the morning he visited the circus ; at noon 
he feasted the senators ; the greater part of 
the afternoon he spent in the $phceristerin?n, 
or tennis-court, the only theatre of his vic- 
tories ; from thence he passed over to the 
Asiatic side of the Bosphorus, hunted and 
killed four wild boars of the largest size, and 
returned to the palace, proudly content with 



ii. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 587 

the labours of the day." In spite of his 
manly beauty, his wife, Theophano, poisoned Theophano 
him, as she had done his father. She placed Wlfe * 
the valiant Nikephorus Phokas on the throne, Nikeptor- 
but, soon wearied of him, fell in love with us Phokas - 
John Zimiskes, an Armenian, and had the Zimiske.?. 
avaricious and hypocritical Nikephorus mur- 
dered, in her private apartments, by vile con- 
spirators. "As he slept on a bear-skin, on 
the ground, he was roused by their noisy 
intrusion, and thirty daggers glittered before 

his eyes The murder was protracted 

by insult and cruelty ; and as soon as the 
head of Nikephorus was shown from the 
window, the tumult was hushed, and the 
Armenian was Emperor of the East.'" He 
was soon poisoned, and Basil II. followed 
him on the throne. His education was inten- 
tionally neglected, his violent spirit was un- 
broken, and fanatic superstition clouded his 
mind. In his youth he gave himself up to 
licentious indulgences ; when older he de- 
voted his life to the penance of a hermit, 
" wore the monastic habit under his robes 
and armour, observed a vow of continence, 
and imposed on his appetites a perpetual 
abstinence from wine and flesh." He was 
surnamed u Slayer of the Bulgarians," of 
whom he caused 15,000 to be blinded, send- 
ing them back to their country to perish 
there in the most terrible misery. Con- Constat- 
stantine IX. succeeded him, and was the last me ' 
male of the royal race of Basil. Twelve 
emperors followed in rapid succession. Whilst 



588 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

with the heathen Romans murder had been 
the order of the day, with the Christian 
Greeks poisoning became the fashion. Women 
began to play a powerful part in the des- 
tinies of the East, and we regret that 
truth compels us to state, that such licentious 
horrors, such passionate crimes, and vile 
intrigues as were perpetrated by these hy- 
pocritical, pious monsters, who were a dis- 
grace to humanity in general, and to their 
sex in particular, has never been equalled. 
These women either drove their husbands 
to madness, and had them locked up in 
monasteries, or poisoned or murdered them. 
In studying Byzantine History we must 
especially try to trace the causes which pro- 
duced so degraded a social, political, and 
religious condition, which in its turn became 
the cause of the powerful reaction that once 
more revolutionised the East. 

Whilst superstition held the Western Chris- 
tians in its fetters, and crimes of the darkest 
hue disgraced those of the East, the direct 
The de- descendants of Abraham or Joktan, the son 

of e Abra- S °^ H e b er or °f Ishmael, the Semitic race of 
ham. the Arabs, lived free from all the influences 
of a corrupt and bigoted, so-called, civiliza- 
tion, under their Sheiks or Emirs. They 
were divided into three principal groups : — 
Arabs. 1. The Arabs or Aribahs, the direct de- 

scendants of Iram or Aram, the son of Shem. 
Mouta- 2. The Mouta-Aribahs, or the eldest de- 

Anbahs. scendants of Joktan or Jokatan (according to 
Freytag, a celebrated German philologist, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 589 

from " Katana," to take up a fixed abode), 
the son of Heber, son of Salah, son of Ar- 
phaxad, son of Shem. 

3. The Mousta-Aribahs, the descendants Mousta- 
of Ishmael (meaning, he who was born in Anbaha - 
the desert). 

For thousands of years these people had 
been divided by sanguinary feuds, not re- 
ferring to theological subtleties, but to their 
tribal genealogical tables, each Sheik or 
Emir priding himself on a purer and more 
direct descent from Abraham. It is the National 
height of vanity in nations and single indi- JJJ^ and 
viduals to boast of their ancestors, or the 
country in which they have been born, or 
the sect to which they belong : these qualifi- 
cations, if not self- chosen, are merely inhe- 
rited, like old furniture, spears or swords, 
plate or jewels. Such pride is always 
a sign of want of genuine Education and 
mental culture. Historians should never 
allow themselves to praise bad means be- 
cause they have sometimes led to glorious 
results. In treating of the foundation of 
Mahometanism, we must again endeavour to 
discover the causes that produced this his- 
torical effect. 

The Arabs were valorous, loved their in- The 
dependence above all, and combined the per- of The 
feet freedom of a nomadic and pastoral life Arabs - 
with the courteous refinement of daring 
traders. They possessed settlements, but 
they hated the corruption of large towns ; 
they were proud of their one God ; one sane- 



590 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 



tuary, the Caaba; one horse; one sword,^and 
one bow. They were chivalrous, wild in 
their love as in their hatred and sanguinary 
revenge ; but they were, like the Northern 
Teutons of Europe, honest and frugal, and, 
in spite of their tribal pride, they were con- 
descending and tolerant to those who had 
not the honour of being direct descendants 
of Abraham, Jokatan, or Ishmael. 
Elements There were all the primary elements of a 
historical g r ^at historical future in these wandering 
future. tribes, if they could but be inspired by one 
common thought, for one common cause ; if 
they could but be made conscious of their 
irresistible power ; and, once united, they 
might be used to destroy quarrelling and 
dogmatising Christianity in the East, and 
spread one creed, and instal one God, as the 
supreme Lord of the Universe. These ideas 
Mahomet, found expression in Mahomet. Every right- 
minded Historian must blush, when he refers 
to the generality of our so-called learned 
Encyclopaedias, written under the influence 
of bigotry and malevolent sectarianism, and 
finds under the article " Mahomet " the 
assertion, made with surprising unanimity, 
that he was " one of the greatest impos- 
tors." This false notion, this contemptible 
ignoring of the grandeur of the intellectual 
and moral force manifested in single indi- 
viduals, so soon as they are not of our nation 
or opinion, produces feelings of animosity and 
hatred which have cost Humanity torrents 
of blood. Bigoted teachers, and narrow- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 591 

minded sectarians, specially appointed to 
make our youth acquainted with truth, in- 
culcate hatred and false ideas in young 
minds, and when they have sown contempt 
and wild hatred broadcast around us, we are 
astonished that we cannot reap forbearance 
and love. If Christian writers cannot afford 
to be charitable, whence is charity to come 
into the world ? 

Mahomet, when he appeared on the stage 
of the world, found human society in the 
East in a state of dissolution, analogous to 
that which had existed at the Advent of 
Christ. The Arabs were addicted to a rude 
kind of idolatry. They had but one un- 
seemly sanctuary, the Caaba, a simple square The Caaba. 
building, by the side of the well in which 
Hagar had found water for her pining Ish- 
mael. This building contained a black 
stone, the grand national talisman — a meteor, 
which the Arabs believed had been dropped 
from heaven by their supreme deity, Allah 
or Allah-Taala (the male or active principle 
of creation), in honour of Alilath (the female 
or passive principle of creation), the Greek 
Bacchus and Venus, the Egyptian Osiris 
and Isis, the Indian S'iva and Parvati. This 
black stone was placed in the south-western 
corner of the Caaba, at Mecca, and was con- 
secrated to Sabba or Abbah (the Abads of 
the Zend people in the centre of Asia, and 
the Asen of the Teutons, in the farthest 
North of Europe), and entrusted to the care 
of the Koreish tribe, more particularly 



592 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

to the Hasliem family, of which Ma- 

Abui hornet was a descendant. Abul Kaseni 

Muh^ied Muhamed (the glorious) was born 571 a.d., 

and died 632 a.d. (when sixty-one years 

His father old). His father was Abdallah (meaning 

Abdaiiah. ^ e beautiful), who married Amina, and on 

this occasion, two hundred ladies are said 

to have despairingly committed suicide out 

His grand- of jealousy. His grandfather was Abdul 

father Motalleb, who saved Mecca from the Abys- 

Motaiieb. sinians, who had taken possession of the 

great national talisman, the black stone, 

which he recovered from them, and replaced 

His great in the sanctuary. His great-grandfather was 

grand- Hashem, who succeeded in averting a famine 

Hashem. by sacrificing all his worldly goods to the 

starving and suffering poor. What wonder 

that a boy with such a pedigree should have 

become a religious dreamer, and a prophet, 

in times when he heard nothing spoken of 

but prophets and religious reformers? 

The The Persian legends assert that, at the 

kf'ends on birth of Mahomet, the eternal fires on the 

Mahomet, altars of the Magi were extinguished. It 

was further said that on the night of his 

birth all heathen and Christian idols sighed 

and shrieked, and that a wise Jew proclaimed 

from a watch-tower that the star of Messiah 

had just risen. In the same mystic strain it 

God on was asserted that the first spiritual ray, pro- 

Mahomet. cee ^[ n g f rom Allah, was Mahomet's soul, of 

which God proclaimed : " In thee dwells my 

light ; for thy sake let the earth expand itself, 

and I create paradise and hell. The divine 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 593 

first ray had burned in Adam and Seth, 
Abraham and Moses, the prophets and Christ, 
but became flesh in Mahomet." Why should 
such and similar ideas, expressed and taught 
with downcast looks of humble piety, or eyes 
lifted up in boundless inspiration, repeated 
for thousands of years from father to son, 
not become a mighty spiritual agent for good 
or for evil, for progress or stagnation, filling 
the minds of millions and millions of people ? 
Are we really to suppose that the same cause Same 
will not produce the same effect ; that Con- produce™* 
fucius will not be sacred to high-minded the same 
Chinese or Japanese scholars ; the Vedas e ect " 
and their Commentaries to the Hindus; the 
Zend-Avesta to the Parsees ; the " Tanjura" 
to the Buddhists ; the Old Testament to the 
Jews ; the Koran to the Mahometans ; and 
only to admit that the Bible may be holy to 
the Christians ? The same influences that 
produced in Christians their veneration for 
their Scriptures and dogmatic tenets, were 
at work, and ingrafted the contents of other 
holv books on the minds of other nations and 
believers. These convictions, true History What we 
teaches us, are of invaluable importance ; ™ a y learn 

£ T ' j. -n j. £ £ 1 m History. 

tor, m purifying our intellect from false pre- 
dilections, we make ourselves acquainted 
with the excellence of other creeds, and free 
our own from the dross of dogmatic obscuri- 
ties, which we best learn to recognize in other 
religions. We thus become at last conscious 
of those eternal laws which must necessarily 
rule the moral and ideal world, just as through 

2 Q 



594 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

experiments we have become conscious of the 
physical laws that rule the outward world. 
These laws may be apparently different, but 
must in essence be the same. 
Mahomet Divested of all mythic and legendary fa- 
aii ve fabies 0f ^ es > Mahomet must have possessed a great 
and powerful mind. At the age of forty-one 
he first confessed that he had received a divine 
revelation, which commanded him to put an 
end to the idolatrous state of Humanity, and 
to teach in the true Semitic spirit the abso- 
lute indivisible Unity of the one Deity. 
Mahomet Mahomet was illiterate and uneducated in 
^thlbSok theological casuistry, but he had read and 
of nature, studied the book of human nature. He tra- 
velled as a keenly observant merchant, came 
into contact with men of all nations and de- 
nominations, and drew comparisons and ana- 
logies between the creeds of the different 
sects. He discovered, with a clear faculty of 
combination, the weaknesses of the fallen Per- 
sian and Roman Empires. He saw with a 
terrified and troubled heart the degeneracy, 
profligacy, licentiousness, and ever-growing 
idolatry of his times, and the division, ani- 
mosity, and hatred amongst the Christian, 
Greek, and Egyptian theologians ; he con- 
versed with Jewish rabbis, Persian parsees, 
Syrian monks, and Christian sectarians, who 
all found refuge and protection among the 
wild Sons of the Desert ; he made himself ac- 
quainted with the laws of Moses, the abstruse 
doctrines of Zoroaster, and the pure vivify- 
ing teachings of Christ. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOKY. 595 

Each year, during the month of Ramadan, The month 
Mahomet withdrew from the world to the jj^ a ™" d 
cave of Hera, three miles from Mecca, and the cave 
there he dreamt dreams, had lively visions, ° era * 
spiritual communications from God, and The an ? el 
visits from the angel Namaus (Gabriel), who 
thundered into his ears these grand words : 
" Devote thyself to the service of Allah (the 
one God), the Lord of the East and West, of 
Winter and Summer; for there is no other 
but He ! ' During fully three years he suc- 
ceeded in converting no more than seven or 
fourteen persons. Some members of his own 
family, and the majority of the Koreish tribe, 
were violently opposed to the reformer. 

Seventy of the latter swore to plunge 
their swords into his irreligious heart. Ma- 
homet's house was surrounded by these wild 
fanatics, but he escaped 622 a.d. In com- 
memoration of this event the Hegira was The 
instituted by Omar, in imitation of the era egua ' 
of the Christian martyrs, and properly com- 
menced sixty-eight days before the flight of 
Mahomet, with the first of Moharren, or first 
day of the Arabian year, which coincides 
with Friday, July 16th, 622 a.d. Friday is 
with the Mahometans what Saturday is with 
the Jews, and Sunday with the Christians — -a 
day of rest and enjoyment. (See Abulfeda, 
; ' Life of Mahomet ; " George Sale, " The 
Koran ; " and Greaves' s edition of Ullug 
Beg's " Epochse Arabum" [Arab Epochs] ). 
Ten years later Syria, the territories on the 
Euphrates, and part of the Greek Empire 

2 Q 2 



596 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

were invaded, Mecca was taken by the victo- 
rious followers of Mahomet, and the surround- 
ing country as far as the Arabian Gulf was 
conquered and placed under the dominion of 
His this mighty Monotheistic ruler. Up to the 

t0 '7turned P er i°d °f hi s flight, Mahomet had wished to 
through teach by persuasion. He was kind and tole- 
intTwath ran ^ ^ u ^ through violent resistance and unex- 
pected victory, his wild Asiatic nature and his 
Semitic, egotistic character gained the upper 
hand, and he then declared war — sanguinary 
war — against all those who did not share his 
religious opinions, and sacrificed them to the 
wrath of Allah. The Koran was to be the 
only holy Book of the world, written by 
the pen of light on God's tablet, containing 
the eternal decrees of God Himself. 
Difference Christ's religion was based on love by a 
cluTstw- self-sacrificing teacher. 
iigiorifind Mahomet's religion was based on hatred 

Mah- met's -, • , 

teachings, by a victorious conqueror. 
Mabome- Mahomet's faith stood to the other reli- 
PuTiSntsia g^ons of the East exactly in the same rela- 
tion, as Puritanism to the Established Church 
of England, nearly a thousand years later. 
Mahomet's soldiers were the mighty Cove- 
nanters of the East, who rushed into battle 
with their Koran, like the latter with their 
Bibles, and conquered* " To believe in the 
one God, to fast, to drink no wine, to re- 
move the sense of speciality, and consequent 
separation from the infinite, arising from 
bodily limitation, and to give alms, that is, 
to get rid of particular private possession, 



?? 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 597 

were Mahomet's principal injunctions; but 
the highest merit in a believer on earth was 
his death in fighting for the orthodox faith 
of the prophet. " He who perished for this 
faith in battle, after having at least killed 
one infidel, was sure of Paradise." The fol- 
lowers of Mahomet kindled in the West an 
analogous fanatic religious excitement in 
Charlemagne, who was a Christian Maho- 
met, wielding the Cross instead of the Cres- 
cent, obeying a Pope and his Councils, 
instead of Allah and his prophet. Without 
Mahomet there would have been no Cru- 
sades, which had the most beneficial effect 
on the progressive development of European 
civilization. 

The Crusades must be studied from two How to 
points of view. We must make ourselves cmsades 6 
acquainted (1) with the causes that brought 
about this extraordinary commotion in the 
Christian world, and (2) we must carefully 
analyse its effects. For nearly 200 years 
armed pilgrimages to the East had taken 
place. The believers had lost their lives and 
property, and still a wild torrent of human 
beings hurried to death in the hope of eternal 
salvation. The promise of Paradise made the 
Mahometans for a long time the invincible 
soldiers of God, and the same result was 
attained by Christian soldiers, who believed 
that they had only to take the Cross, kill a 
Mahometan, and then straightway reach 
everlasting salvation. The former were 
swayed by Fatalism, the latter by Predesti- 



598 THE SCIENCE OP HISTORY. 

nation. Under both banners the dynamic 
force of Humanity was let loose on the wings 
of fanaticism, and Cross and Crescent met in 
deadly combat. The Crescent from that 
time remained in possession of the Holy 
Land in Asia, but lost ground more and 
more in Europe, and the Christians learned 
the wholesome lesson, that religious fanati- 
cism was not the means of readjusting the 
balance of the forces working in Humanity, 
but, on the contrary, rather calculated to 
disturb intellect and morals. 
The six Historians will find the primary causes 

primary ^hat | e( j j. Q ^[ ie Crusades under the following 

causes of . © 

the six headings : — 

rS^w' (a-) The wild and fantastic longing to seek 
adventures in the distant Last, created in 
Europe by Bards, Poets, and Romancers, 
stimulating the Teutonic love of migration 
to an irresistible activity under the influence 
of Chivalry. 
The belief (J).} The firm belief in the approaching 
of the en en( i of the world. Everyone hastened to use 
world. the short time at his disposal to do something 
for the welfare of his soul. Just as there are 
contagious diseases affecting the bodies of 
men ; so there are contagious mental or emo- 
tional, religious and political diseases, which 
affect the mode of thinking and acting of 
Humanity with the same force as the plague, 
yellow fever, diphtheria, typhus, or any other 
epidemic. Physicians have to study the diag- 
noses and causes of, and the remedies for such 
diseases, and Historians must make them- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 599 

selves acquainted with the diagnoses, the 
causes, and effects of such strange phenomena. 

(<?.) The utterly immoral condition of the Remission 
Romish Church, which arrogated to itself the of slns * 
power to forgive sins in the name of God ; 
not only such sins as had been committed, 
but also such sins as might be committed 
at a future time. This doctrine of plenary 
indulgences was the cause of the deepest 
degradation to the laity, and furnished the 
clergy with the most terrible weapons, 
turning " holy Mother Church" into a 
most bloodthirsty fury, devouring lands and 
peoples wholesale. 

(d.) The unsettled state of Europe, in con- Feudalism. 
sequence of the Feudal System introduced by 
Charlemagne, and supported by the popes. 
Men, from the highest to the lowest, were in 
fact the property of some master, whose lieges 
they were. The supreme Lord was the Pope, 
who invested the Emperor, who again in- 
vested Kings, and who again invested Dukes. 
The only independent bodies were the Italian 
and Teuton towns, in which some kind of 
liberty could develop on a municipal, or cor- 
porate basis. Men longed for freedom, and 
the Crusades offered this precious boon, and 
rich and poor, young and old, even women 
and children, flocked under Christ's banner 
to enjoy equality and freedom. 

(e.) The rapacity, covetousness, and in- Theeager- 
ordinate greed of the Church for worldly the Church 
goods. Princes, dukes, counts, barons, and J° * c( i uire 
knights left their landed property, which was property. 



600 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

often very much encumbered, together with 
their wives and children, behind them, took 
the Cross, and were never seen, or heard of 
again. The Church, through one of her 
pious sons, generally undertook the care and 
administration of such estates. The women 
died, the children disappeared, or became 
monks or nuns ; the owners did not return 
from the Holy Land, and the estates were le- 
gally and rightfully transferred, as the pro- 
perty of the Church, to some bishop, abbot, or 
monastery. The landed property which the 
Church acquired was exceedingly tempting, 
and induced the clergy over the whole of 
Europe to strain every nerve to persuade the 
faithful, especially if possessed of immoveable 
goods, to go to the East, and fight and die 
for the glory of God. 
The state (/. ) Besides these religious and social 
causes, there was a politico-economical reason 
which drove the better classes to the East. 
The knights in their secluded, isolated castles 
led an idle, useless life ; they did not know 
how to earn money, and were often forced 
to devote themselves to the abominable trade 
of highway robbery. The few roads that 
existed were insecure ; merchants had to 
send their goods under large and expensive 
escorts, and had to pay a high tax for the 
honour of passing close by a knight's abode, 
or were robbed. Trade could not well be 
carried on under such conditions, which grew 
day by day more intolerable. What the 
rapacious knights left 5 was taken partly by 



T 

of com 
inerce 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 601 

the Church, and partly by the Government. 
The peasants, body and soul, were owned 
by Church and landlord, and had to sing 
hymns or fight the battles of their feudal 
masters. When the war-cry against the in- 
fidels resounded ; when monks and priests 
incited knights and their lieges to take up 
arms ; the citizens of the towns, seeing the 
immense advantage to themselves, urged the 
knights to depart, and lent them money to 
buy horses, accoutrements, swords, spears, 
and shields ; the knights went, and the in- 
dustrious townsmen of Italy and Germany 
got rid of the idlers and the rabble. 

The secondary cause that produced the The 
grand migration of religious fanatics towards secomIar j 

r> o © causes of 

the East was the change which had come the 
over Mahometan tolerance, when the Egyp- Crusades - 
tian Caliphs became masters of the Holy 
Land. For the study of this period we Gibbon on 
could not refer to a better and more impar- Mahomet - 
tial authority than Gibbon, in his " Decline 
and Fall of the Roman Empire," Chapters 
1. to Iviii. He is not only rich in accurate 
details, but he constantly points out the 
causes which produced the historical phe- 
nomena, in which the principal agents were 
Teutons (Franks), Greeks, and Arabs, or 
Saracens (from the Arab word Sharaka, to 
rise, the East, an Eastern man ; first used in 
reference to the Arabs in Europe, and later 
applied to all the Mahometans). Historians Tbe 
will find that the Mahometans, so long as o^!^ 
they were under the dominion of the Caliphs 



602 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

of Bagdad, cultivated sciences ; they studied 
arithmetic, algebra, geometry, astronomy, 
chemistry, botany, medicine, geography, 
and, above all, philosophy, in the more 
practical sense of Aristotle. In barely 400 
years 36,000 fortified camps and places in 
Persia, Asia Minor, Africa and Europe were 
stormed and taken. More than 20,400 
mosques, pointing with their slim minarets 
to heaven, were constructed, from the borders 
of the Ebro in Spain to the shores of the 
Ganges, from the Oxus and Euphrates to 
the Atlantic Ocean, proclaiming the glory 
of Allah. Religion, freed from all meta- 
physical subtleties, did not hinder the new 
sect from devoting its intellectual force to 
Learning sciences and battles. The ink of the doctors, 
tnem. eaby s P^t i n spreading wisdom and knowledge, 
was considered " equally valuable with the 
blood of martyrs," meaning such as died for 
the Mahometan faith. Under the gentle and 
generous sway of the Caliphs, Paradise was 
as much for him who had rightly used his 
pen in medicine, poetry, or chemistry, as for 
The four him who had fallen by the sword. The 
world was declared to be sustained by four 
forces: the learning of the wise, the justice of 
the great, the prayers of the good, and the 
valour of the brave. Schools and universities 
were erected for the instruction and culture 
of the true believers. East and West were 
brought into commercial relations, and even 
Charlemagne was compelled to admire the 
virtues and wisdom of Harun- Al-Eashid. The 



forces. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 603 

Christian pilgrims were protected so long as 
the power of the Caliphs at Bagdad remained 
unbroken, but when the Egyptian Caliphs 
began to rule the Holy Land, the pilgrims 
often experienced great hardships, which the 
pious imagination of priests and monks ex- 
aggerated, and made use of to excite Western 
Christianity against Eastern heathenism ; at 
the same time kindling in the Mahometans 
their old, then slumbering, fanaticism. We 
possess a whole literature of this period, 
which must be studied with the greatest 
possible caution. Fables, myths, legends, 
and positive falsehoods, are so cleverly mixed 
and interwoven, that it requires all the power 
of a well- trained critical spirit to sift the 
possible or probable from the great amount 
of fiction, which ignorance or religious ill- 
feeling has produced. 

The most important writers were : The 

1. Fretellus, an archdeacon, who left a ^J™ 
very curious MS., not yet printed, on the Crusades. 
Geography of the Holy Land. A copy is Fretellus ' 
preserved in the Dresden Library. 

2. Petrus Tudebodus, a Frenchman and Petrus 
priest, wrote as an eye-witness on the con- £ u d d u e s " 
quest of Jerusalem, about 1100 a.d. 

3. Robertus — not the one who is known Robertus. 
as de Monte (of the Mount), but a monk of St. 
Remy — who was present at the Council of 
Claremont, and accompanied the first Cru- 
saders to the East. He soon returned, and, 

by order of his abbot, wrote a history of the 
wars of the Christians against the Saracens. 



604 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

His work was published in Latin, French, 
German, and Italian. 

Baidericus. 4. Baldericus, a monk, afterwards abbot, 
and finally bishop at Dole. He wrote a 
History of Jerusalem, a life of St. Samson, 
and another of St. Maglor, a work on the be- 
neficial influence of monasteries, and one on 
the " Transfer and Miracles of the Head of St. 
Valentin the Martyr." The titles of these 
works in themselves are sufficient to deter- 
mine their want of all claim to considera- 
tion as historal records. 

Eaimund 5. Raimund d'Agiles, chaplain of the 
Count of Toulouse, whom he accompanied 
to Jerusalem, was present when the " holy 
lance" was found — the identical lance with 
which Christ's body had been pierced when 
on the cross. Credulous and ignorant in the 
highest degree, his work is one of those 
which teach us how not to write History. 

Albert. 6. Albert, Canon and Treasurer of the 

Church at Aix, though not an eye-witness, 
wrote a History of the conquest of Jerusa- 
lem by Godfrey (Greoffroi) of Bouillon, 
which may be considered the most trust- 
worthy. 

Gmiieimus 7. Guilielmus of Tyre was assumed to 
have been an Englishman, though he him- 
self contradicts this, as he was born in Tyre. 
Others make him a Frenchman, and state, 
that he went to the East in 1131 a. d., though 
he himself asserts that he was still a student 
in Europe in 1162 a.d. In 1167 a.d. he 
went to Tyre, as archdeacon, and was after- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 605 

wards entrusted with the education of Bald- 
win, the son of Amalric L, King of Jeru- 
salem. He was present at the Lateran 
Council, 1179 a.d., and is said to have been 
poisoned at Rome, 1181 a.d., though we find 
him in 1188 a.d. as ambassador in France, 
soliciting contributions from the kings of 
England and France, Henry II. and Philip 
Augustus, for the distressed Crusaders in the 
East. He cannot have died before 1190 a.d., 
for his History, written in twenty-three Books, 
begins with the year 1095 a.d. and ends 
with the year 1184. It was translated into 
French, German, and Italian, and was very 
much used for a work which appeared under 
the title u Histoire de la Guerre Sainte, pro- 
prement la Franciade Orientale, faite latine 
par Guillaume Archevesque de Tyr" (His- 
tory of the Holy War, properly the Oriental 
Franciade, written in Latin by William 
Archbishop of Tyre), translated into French 
by Gabriel du Preau. We have purposely 
given these details as a proof of the difficulties 
with which we have to contend in the study 
of Mediaeval History* It would, however, 
not be right to assert that, because a study 
is surrounded with difficulties it is either im- 
possible or useless. If we sought to know the 
name of every Duke or Baron who was killed 
in the Holy Land, or that of every Count 
who came back, or how many Saracens each 
Paladin of the Christian faith murdered 
with his own blessed and sacred hands, we 
should really not be much wiser for the 



606 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

knowledge ; but if we consider and treat in 
broad outlines the causes and effects of this 
religious tornado, which purified the air, 
swept away superstition, and shook credu- 
lity to its very foundations, we cannot fail 
to benefit by our researches. 

Jacob de 8. Jacob de Vitry, a Frenchman, was a 

Vitry. priest, and made Cardinal by Gregory IX. 
He is celebrated for a work entitled "Historice 
Orientalis et Occidentalis Libri III." (Three 
Books on Eastern and Western History), but 
he was far more notorious for the rage with 
which he preached a Crusade against the 
Albigenses, a religious sect in Languedoc. 
He was valiantly helped in his ravings a- 

oiiverius. gainst the European infidels by Oliverius, a 
German, afterwards Archbishop of Cologne, 
who was created Cardinal as a reward for 
his wild persecutions. 

Marinus 9. Marinus Sanutus, a Venetian, also 
called Torsello, was a zealous promoter of 
the Crusades. He visited the Holy Land 
five times, and travelled in the Netherlands, 
Alsatia, and Slavonia. He occupied himself 
principally with nautical researches, and com- 
menced his great work in Germany, 1306, 
where he finished it, 1321, and presented 
copies of it to the Pope, and the kings of 
France, England and Sicily. To make it 
more useful, he provided each copy with four 
maps : of the Mediterranean Sea, the distri- 
bution of land and water, the Holy Land 
and Egypt. He discusses, in three books, 
how to destroy the power of the Sultan, and 



Sanutus. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 607 

undertake a new Crusade, and finally gives, 
in fifteen chapters, a historical account of 
the Crusades. 

10. Radulphus, an English monk, of Cogge- Radulphus 
shall (in Essex), so called from the monastery 

there to which he belonged, himself visited 
the Holy Land, and was present at the Siege 
and Fall of Jerusalem, in the reign of the cele- 
brated Saladin. He was wounded and taken 
prisoner, but soon liberated, with many others. 
His " Chronicon Terrce Sanetce " (Chronicle of 
the Holy Land) is a reliable work, though 
not entirely free from monkish prejudices. 

11. Nicolaus le Huen, a French monk, Nicoiausie 
born at Lisieux, was confessor to the Queen uen ' 

of Louis IX. He went to the Holy Land ; 
on his return visited Rhodes, Cyprus, and 
Naples ; travelled from the latter place to 
Rome on foot, and published his " Voyage 
d'Oultremer et Terre Sainte de Jerusalem," 
a work of great interest, at Paris. 

Historians must carefully consider the re- Effects 
suits of the Crusades ; for we may confidently orusade?. 
state that they altered the very mode of 
thinking in Europe. Briefly, the effects pro- 
duced by these wars may be arranged under 
the following headings : — 

(a.) The change which land and property Change of 
underwent. Towns, monasteries, and the land " 
Church were enriched. The Church acquired 
through wealth still greater temporal and 
spiritual powers, but her efforts were coun- 
terbalanced by the towns and monasteries. 
The towns fostered free thought, commerce, 



608 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

and industry — the monasteries learning and 
inquiry. 
isolation (b.) A new life was infused through the 
ceases. Crusades into the stagnating and isolated 
national bodies of Europe. There had been 
scarcely any exchange of thoughts before 
this period. The different classes of society 
lived in complete separation. The Feudal 
institutions left the lower classes in utter igno- 
rance ; men fared worse than animals ; they 
had no common interests, or common aims. 
The Crusades suddenly inspired individuals 
and nations with a common cause, and 
stimulated them to common activity. From 
all parts of Europe people flocked together 
and exchanged ideas, enlarging their views, 
and increasing their knowledge. They be- 
came familiar with various customs, and 
saw different products of nature and art. 
Knowledge thus engendered knowledge, and 
new ideas produced a higher spiritual life. 
East and (c.) East and West were brought intellec- 
i^SdS- 11 dually ari( i commercially into a closer union. 
teiiee- Goods from different regions were transported, 
commer. nd exhibited, sold, and exchanged. Merchan- 
ciaiiy. dise represents human intellectual activity, 
setting into motion our dynamic force of 
creating and inventing, improving and com- 
bining. Isolation began to vanish, and a 
union of men and nations in political and 
social matters took place. 
Spread of (tf^ The interchange of merchandise was 
brother- followed by an exchange of freer ideas, pro- 
hood, ducing greater political and religious activity 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 609 

throughout the whole of Europe. The fetters 
of feudalism were loosened, and the equality 
of men was recognised. A general feeling of 
Christian brotherhood pervaded society. The 
poor and oppressed fought side by side with 
the mighty and wealthy for the same ab- 
stract cause ; and a dying comrade, whether 
rich or destitute, was often tended with 
equal kindness and devotion on the battle- 
field, in the sick-room, in palaces, or in 
cottages. The commoners were no longer 
looked down upon as the Pariahs of society, 
and the social and political life of the people 
dates from the Crusades. 

(e.) Venice, Pisa, and Genoa, in Italy, Towns in 
Augsburg, Aix-la-Chapelle, and Cologne, in * ta] y and 
Germany, became the chief centres of taste, 
commerce, and industry, and through wealth 
acquired greater independence and a better 
municipal organization ; which was slowly 
introduced into other free towns and civic 
corporations throughout the whole of Italy 
and Germany. In time those towns became 
the most powerful elements in the struggle 
with which Modern History was ushered in 
by the Reformation. 

These changes reacted on the Historians, changes 
who began to write with greater care and ^^mas 
correctness. We possess not less than fifty- 
four Universal Histories of this period, prin- 
cipally written by priests, but less coloured 
by prejudices, and here and there — like 
the Histories of Ekkehardus I., Sicardus, 
Martinus, Richard of Poitiers, Silfridus, 

2 R 



610 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



The Mon- 
asteries of 
Europe. 



Scotns 
Erigena. 



Anselm. 



and Matthew of Nurenburg — well worthy of 
perusal. 

A great literary movement developed itself 
in the Monasteries of Europe, The neg- 
lected and counteracted dynamic or intellec- 
tual force broke forth into glorious activity 
in those very caves, cells, holes, and dun- 
geons that had been erected to destroy man's 
reasoning faculty, and to turn him into a 
mere groaning, sighing, praying, or chanting 
machine. Prior to the ninth century, how- 
ever, there had been no system either in 
History or Philosophy, till Scotus Erigena, 
the real founder of the Nominalists, ap- 
peared, and, holding more to Aristotle, 
endeavoured to define matter and spirit ; 
whilst his opponents, the Realists, relying on 
Plato, asserted that words were the repre- 
sentatives of real Entities. Both parties 
were swayed by a pronounced theological 
bias, which, whilst it excluded a deeper scien- 
tific treatment of any branch of learning, 
sharpened the dialectics of the combatants, 
and produced the most astounding results. 
England was the great stronghold of mo- 
nastic learning, and it is greatly to be re- 
gretted, that her most influential Universities 
should still retain this one-sided monastic 
and clerical character, especially with regard 
to the treatment of History. Scotus Erigena 
was followed, on the side of the Realists, 
by Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury. In 
Salerno, Bologna, Cordova, Paris, Oxford, 
Montcassin, &c, " tongue-tournaments" were 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 611 

instituted, where the combatants fought in 
the presence of ladies and gentlemen, excited 
students and citizens, priests and nobles, and 
unconsciously spread a love for learning. 
Humanity was thus aroused to a Crusade in 
learning, which was necessarily beneficial. 
The Greeks were now so often mentioned 
and quoted, that priests and laymen at last 
became eager to know more of them. So 
soon as the Greek was again studied, the 
critical spirit of Aristotle began to pervade 
all the branches of human activity on the 
paths of inquiry. William Occam, in Phi- William 
losophy, and Sir John Froissart, in History, g£ c J|J}; n 
opened entirely new fields to thinking Eu- Foissaru 
rope. Occam demanded freedom of thought, 
and Froissart, through his highly interesting 
" Chronicles of England, France, Scotland, 
Spain, and the adjoining Countries," induced 
a taste for better historical works. Both 
writers began to wage a deadly war against 
the supernatural. Occam endeavoured to 
find the only possible foundation for a 
scientific treatment of any given subject. 
He taught Humanity to mistrust subjective 
opinions, based on preconceived notions of 
facts ; and to treat History in this sense was 
the task which Froissart set himself. With 
praiseworthy impartiality, Froissart gives 
every one his due. His historical pictures 
are drawn with vivid clearness and truth- 
fulness, though he could not altogether divest 
himself of the spirit of his times, which is 
reflected on the pages of his work in all its 

2r2 



612 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

pomp and vanity. He gives us a correct 
Foissart on estimate of that hollow " Chivalry,'" a spe- 
Chivairy. c i a ]]y French creation, which made its in- 
fluence dominant in the West of Europe, 
and yet served, in spite of all its short- 
comings, to counteract the influence of the 
priesthood. Froissart exposes this u chi- 
valry," with its picturesque mimicry of the 
high sentiments of heroism, love, and cour- 
tesy — a mimicry before which all depth and 
reality of nobleness disappeared, to make 
room for the coarsest profligacy, the nar- 
rowest caste-spirit, and a brutal indifference 
to human suffering. Whilst he acknowledges 
the better qualities in the character of the 
English King Edward, who was less subject 
to the baser influences of chivalry, he gives 
us a faithful picture of a monarch who was 
the first to introduce the sham warfare of the 
Tournament into England, and established 
a " Round Table" at Kenil worth, where a 
hundred knights and ladies, " clad all in 
silk," renewed the faded glories of Arthur's 
Court. 
PMio- From the fourteenth century, Philosophy 

sophy and anc [ History strove to progress hand in hand. 
from the The Church in vain struggled to extirpate 
fourteenth j^^gy or rather, a freer mode of thinking, 
by fire and sword. Science occupied the 
same position in regard to superstition, as 
had been held by Christianity at its begin- 
ning, in opposition to the sunken morals of 
the Roman Empire. The Roman victors had 
been as powerless to stamp out Christianity, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 613 

with their axes and crucifixions, burnings 
and wholesale massacres, as the Church now 
was to stop the progressive scientific develop- 
ment of mankind. It was all in vain that Executions 
7,000 victims died at the stake at Treves, m n ur a er s of 
that 600 were sacrificed by a single bishop theChurch. 
at Bamberg, and 800 in one year in the 
Bishopric of Wtirzburg. At Toulouse, the 
seat of the Inquisition, 400 persons were 
executed at one time for sorcery. Kemy, a 
judge of Nancy, boasted that he had put 
to death 800 unbelievers in sixteen years. 
These horrors disgraced the Church, which 
based her influence on a system of terrorism, 
hypocrisy, and miracle ; painted the wretch- 
edness of mankind in the darkest colours of 
merciless calumny ; opposed inquiry ; and 
fostered, and at the same time punished, a 
belief in witchcraft and magic. "In the Contrasts 
darkness of the night ; amid the yawning ° even s> 
chasms of the wild echoes of the mountain 
gorge ; under the blaze of the comet, or the 
solemn gloom of the eclipse ; when famine 
has blasted the land; when the earthquake 
and the pestilence have slaughtered their 
thousands; in every form of disease which 
refracts and distorts the reason; in all 
that is strange, portentous, and deadly" — 
believing bigots saw nothing but the 
inexplicably supernatural. On the other 
hand, during this period England established 
her political freedom through the " Magna J^jJJjg? 
Charta " (the Great Charter) ; Wickliffe and Hu a g r g and 
Huss began the Reformation ; Inventions Wickeiiffe. 



614 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

and Discoveries were made ; the dark night 
of the Middle Ages vanished, and the dawn 
of Modern Times tinted the horizon of His- 
tory with the glowing hues of a brighter 
future. 

Historians, in dealing with this period, 
will have to study the causes which pro- 
duced the most important inventions, and 
the effects which these had on the develop- 
Aiihad ment of Humanity. Up to this period all 
dissolution ^ iac ^ keen dissolution and new formation. 
and new The classical world had been superseded by 
formation. an unDounc [ ec l spiritualism, which in its turn 

had aided Humanity to explore the inner- 
most recesses of the powers of nature. For 
one thousand four hundred years Christianity 
had endeavoured to develop one-sidedly the 
static element in Humanity, attempting to 
build up a system of submissive morality on 
dogmatic assumptions ; but the counteract- 
ing force of intellect could not be stifled, and 
an entirely new mode of thinking was estab- 
lished. The process was slow and gradual ; 
but discoveries, inventions, and experiments, 
once inaugurated, continued in spite of the 
flames of the Inquisition, the fires of which 
have been extinguished, whilst the burn- 
ing search for truth still glows through 
Humanity, 
inventions. The most important Inventions influenc- 
ing the historical progress of Humanity 
were : — 
Gun- 1. The Invention of Gunpowder, which 

powder. d eac Qy substance became the most effective 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 615 

apostle of equality and Christian brother- 
hood. For a detailed account of the salu- 
tary effects which this invention produced, 
we must refer our readers to the great Ger- 
man Historian, Herder, who, in his " Ideen 
zur Philosophic der Geschichte der Mensch- 
heit," was the first to point out, nearly a 
century ago, the changes brought about by 
the general use of gunpowder. He was fol- 
lowed in our own century by Mr. H. T. Herder 
Buckle, who transcribed and amplified Her- ^f c kie 
der's ideas. No commerce, no industry, no 
manufactures, no sciences, no arts or litera- 
ture, in a broad and independent sense, were 
possible so long as every man was compelled 
to practise the art of warfare, and was liable 
to be called out at a moment's notice to 
fight. At a time when bishops and abbots 
mounted their chargers, and led their troops 
to battle and murder, only two distinct pro- 
fessions had existed — priests and soldiers. 
Sermons and battles, interrupted by fairs, Sermons 
tournaments, processions, and burnings of an attes * 
heretics, had been every-day occurrences. 
Dukes, Kings, Counts, and Emperors had 
led a monotonous life ; fighting, hunting, or 
feasting had been their only occupations. 
History had been merely a record of in- ,, . 

. . J t , "i-i • i Monotony 

trigues, robberies, plunder, seizure or loss ot History 
of provinces — of men slain, towns destroyed 
— of victories, surrenders, defeats, invasions, 
deaths, coronations, marriages, excommuni- 
cations, interdicts, and inquisitorial or cri- 
minal proceedings. With the invention of 



616 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

gunpowder, however, a new classification 
was introduced, which was of the utmost im- 
portance. Society was now divided into 
civilians and soldiers — the protectors and the 
protected. The old division into clergy 
and laity vanished, because the clergy were 
merged into the civilians. The invention 
of gunpowder made the Reformation a 
possibility, promoted learning, fostered our 
inventive activity, and at last led to the 
discovery of America. 
Division of The European mind, which, up to the 
^cognised! invention of gunpowder, had been solely 
occupied with war or theology, had time, 
under the protection of an explosive powder, 
handled by specially-trained men, to concen- 
trate its intellectual force on other matters. 
Those who wished to devote themselves to 
learning and the arts, could peaceably follow 
their inclinations. The utility of a division 
of labour became recognized, and the social 
and moral condition of Europe greatly im- 
proved ; knowledge spread, and with it the 
authority of the intellectual classes largely 
increased. 
Founda- 2. The foundation of Universities. The 
Umver- oldest Universities, at least in name, were 
sities. established in Italy {Bologna, 433 a.d.) and 
England (Oxford, 886 a.d.); next we have 
the University of Spain (Seville, 900 a.d.) 
Monastic an( * lastly, that of France (Paris, 1209a.d.) 
schools, Unhappily, all these Universities, in spite of 
Wot- tne great classical and mathematical learning 
eities. which they cultivated, remained more or less 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 617 

monastic schools, not occupying themselves 
with either historical or scientific researches ; 
or, where they did so, merely treating them 
from a theologically-biassed standpoint. We 
must here observe, for the guidance of writers 
and students of History, that, though Protes- 
tant theologians are somewhat more liberal 
than Roman Catholics, the latter have con- 
tributed quite as largely to a higher and 
more universal culture of the mind as the 
former, who, especially when Dissenters, are 
often more intolerant and one-sided than 
members of any other denomination. His- 
torians can never use their books with profit 
unless every possible allowance be made for 
the prejudices of the religious sect or deno- 
mination to which the writer belonged. The 
study of the Historians of the ancient classical 
period is therefore so much the more to be 
recommended, as they are in no way tainted 
with objectionable, and always more or less 
misleading, theological propensities. 

At present the Germans only, possess Uni- The 
versities in the true sense of the word, that is, g^Tof 
seats of learning at which every branch of hu- Germany. 
man knowledge can be thoroughly studied, 
Professors or Lecturers being provided, and all 
the subjects being treated from a general and 
special point of view. In History — through 
impartiality, a broad grasp of events, depth 
of research, fearlessness, and a readiness to 
acknowledge in others what is really good — 
the Germans stand above all other nations. 
The oldest German Universities are those of 



618 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Heidelberg, founded 1346 a.d. ; of Prague, 
1348; Vienna, 1365; Cologne, 1388, &c. 
In Germany and Switzerland there are alto- 
gether forty -nine Universities, most of which 
were founded in the fourteenth, fifteenth, 
and sixteenth centuries ; and in all of them 
" History " forms the most important branch 
of study, especially in the Philosophical sec- 
tions. The technical sciences are also treated 
from a general historical point of view, before 
the students are initiated into the special 
mysteries of chemistry, biology, astronomy, 
geology, mineralogy, mechanics, optics, &c. 
For no student can possibly really know 
anything of any given subject, unless he be 
thoroughly acquainted with its gradual de- 
velopment in time, and be enabled, by this 
means, to compare the standpoint which any 
branch of science occupies in his ow^n with 
that of any other country. 
Paper 3. The invention of making paper from 

rags, 1319 a.d., furthered knowledge through 
cheaper manuscripts. 
Telescopes 4. The invention of telescopes and micro- 
Micro- scopes, by Italians, Dutch, and Germans, who 
scopes. are credited with having made the first lenses. 
Distant bodies in the heavens were thus 
brought nearer through the telescope, and 
what had been assumed to be a mere scintil- 
lating spark, proved to be a world in itself, 
much larger than our own globe. Astronomy 
only became a real science from this time, 
and supplanted astrology. On the other 
hand, the microscope afforded us a deep in- 



made of 



rags. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 619 

sight into the world of minute animalculse. 
Invisible agents in the complicated combina- 
tions of living matter were thus discovered, 
and changed the aspect of nature, and our 
notions of mind and matter. 

5. The invention of the Art of Printing, by The Art of 
John of Guttenberg, Fust or Faust, and Printin §- 
Peter Schoffer. Through this Art a spirit of 
inquiry was aroused in all the layers of 
society throughout Europe. Historians must 
trace the scarcely conceivable power exer- 
cised by the Art of Printing with the greatest 
care. 

The castles of the feudal nobles crumbled Changes 
into the dust. Spears, axes and clubs began to a £outby 
be obsolete. The iron coats were exchanged these 
for dresses of cloth, velvet and silk. Hel- The feudai 
mets, with their plumes, their eagles, griffins, Lords - 
bears and lions, gave way to embroidered caps 
and hats. Industrious citizens took the place 
of banqueting knights, who now either served 
any master who could pay best, or starved, 
or begged from or plundered the peaceful 
travellers on the highways. What a terrible 
change had come over the historically famous 
Titurels, Perceivals, Rolands and Tancreds of 
old ! They were now looked down upon as vul- 
gar thieves, idle drunkards, and contemptible 
prize-fighters, and were thoroughly despised 
by the industrious and hardworking towns- 
men, who could now read books and discuss 
learned or poetical topics with shrewdness 
and freedom. 

The monks of old, the torchbearers of The Monks 



620 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

s n Lio f scholastic learning, wrote and talked, but 
nacL neither readers nor listeners. Misunder- 
standing the signs of the times, they were 
now busily trading in the remission of sins, 
and collecting money for the construction of 
the Church of St. Peter's at Rome, ignorant of 
the intellectual and moral earthquake which 
was preparing to annihilate papal and clerical 
authority. Religion was degraded by its 
ministers to a sordid handicraft, and the 
citizens began to print and to distribute 
satirical songs, fables, and even lampoons, 
directed against the sacred tricks or senseless 
assertions with which pompous monks and 
priests astonished the ignorant. All the at- 
tempts made by prejudice and ignorance 
to stupify the masses were combated by 
publications, principally printed in England 
and Germany, which exercised a correcting 
The influence. This feverish excitement was in- 

discovery tensified when the cry suddenly resounded 
' through the whole of the " Old World," that 
a " New World" had been discovered, that 
the earth was not a flat, that ships could 
start from one point, and, without turning 
their bows, reach the very point from which 
they had started, thus sailing round the 
earth. 
Nature and We may characterise nature as the develop- 
History. men t of matter in space ; whilst History is 
the development of spirit in time. Philosophy, 
Nature and History, from the moment of the 
discovery of America, became the most im- 
portant studies of man. The vastness of the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 621 

sea again came into play. The sea gives us The sea 
the idea of the indefinite and unlimited. ^ dits 

-r-i I- ,1 «,, . , influence. 

Expanding in space, the sea nils us with an 
irresistible longing to roam on the waves of 
inquiry in the infinite realm of thought. 
Man, through the sea, the influence of which 
we described in treating of the Greeks, was 
encouraged to go beyond the limited. The 
sea had stimulated the Greeks to a higher 
mental and bodily activity ; she now enclosed 
an old and a new world in her watery em- 
brace, and opened an entirely new destiny 
to Humanity. The sea carried man out of 
his limited circle of thoughts and actions ; 
trade became commerce, and Humanity, in- 
stead of wasting its powers on petty and 
local matters, sought for new spheres of 
thought, inquiry, and a new method of 
treating religion, politics, and science. 

History again passed through different History 
phases. It was at first reduced to a dry ^ e "nt 
record of travels. Anything that was seen phases, 
beyond the seas, of savages and their cus- 
toms, of natural products in plants and 
animals, had an indescribable charm for 
readers, who all felt that a new era had 
dawned. 

The changes that came over the world 
were more momentous than the victories of 
Christianity, and the fall of the Roman 
Empire. Its physical bounds were enlarged. 
"The discoveries of Copernicus," says Mr. Mr, j. r. 
J. R. Green, M.A., in his excellent work, M.A. n ' 
"A Short History of the English People" 



622 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

(London, 1876), " revealed to man the secret 
of the universe. The daring of the Portu- 
guese mariners doubled the Cape of Good 
Hope, and anchored their merchant fleets in 
the harbours of India. Columbus crossed 
the untraversed ocean to add a New World 
to the Old. Sebastian Cabot, starting from 
the port of Bristol, threaded his way among 
the icebergs of Labrador. This sudden con- 
tact with new lands, new faiths, new races 
of men, quickened the slumbering intelligence 
of Europe into a strange curiosity. The first 
book of voyages, that told of the Western 
World, the travels of Amerigo Vespucci, was 
in everybody's hands.' 3 (Page 297.) 

A brilliant period of learning was inaugu- 
john rated by the celebrated John Beuchlin, one 
Reuchiin. £ j.\ ie greatest Hebrew and Latin scholars 
Erasmus of of his times (1-155 — 1522); by Erasmus of 
Rotterdam. R ott erdam (1467—1536), who revived the 
sir Thomas study of Greek ; and by Sir Thomas More's 
More. it Tjtopia," with its wide range of specu- 
lation on every subject of human thought 
Dante. and action. Dante's apparently wild poe- 
tical dreams were to become reality. The 
Southern Cross was once more gazed on 
by human beings. The tears, which the 
greatest poet of Italy had wept over the 
vices and miseries of the world, were to be 
dried. Sense and truth were to be enthroned, 
and man was to reach the i i Paradise " of 
free inquiry and true morality, in doing good 
for virtue's sake. Whilst not one historical 
book worth mentioning appeared during the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 623 

thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in Engf- 
land, France, Portugal, or Spain, we find the 
Germans engaged in composing " General The 
Histories." The same force which sent the J^ 6 ™*" 8 
English, French, Portuguese, and Spaniards write 
over the seas to act History in distant coun- Hlst0I 7- 
tries, aroused the Germans, to remodel first 
the realm of faith, then that of science, 
and to register the historical past, with an 
unbiassed love for everything grand and 
glorious. 

Constantinople fell into the hands of the Revival of 
Turks in the middle of the fifteenth century, l^TarUn 
and the exiled Greek scholars were wel- Ital y- 
corned in Italy, especially in Florence, the 
seat of the highest intellectual activity in 
arts and sciences. The poetry of Homer, 
the dramas of iEschylus and Sophokles, the 
original philosophical researches of Plato and 
Aristotle, "woke again to life beneath the 
shadow of the mighty dome with which the 
great Italian architect Brunelleschi had just Brunei- 
crowned the City by the Arno." Florence leschi ' 
in arts, Germany in theology and History, 
France in poetry and comedy, England in 
the drama and experimental philosophy, led 
European mankind to new life. The necro- Eff ect of 
mancers of old were transformed into natural revival. 
philosophers ; alchemists into chemists ; as- 
trologers into astronomers; soothsayers and 
prophets into philosophers ; wizards and de- 
monologists into geologists, zoologists, and 
cosmologists, and chronologists into Histo- 
rians. The misshapen monstrosities of pre- 



624 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

judice and credulity, the outgrowths of a 
wild and fantastic, scientifically untrained 
imagination, which had made havoc of Euro- 
pean Humanity for the past 1,450 years, and 
had exhibited deluded man in his very worst 
theological and religious madness, served as a 
wholesome lesson and warned us to abandon 
the u supernatural," and turn once more to 
nature and the study of man in his har- 
monious beauty of form, his wondrous or- 
ganization, and intellectual powers. The 
recovery of a treatise by Cicero, a passage 
from Lucretius Carus, or a tract by Sallust, 
from the dust of a monastic library, was at 
that time a portentous event. From all parts 
of the world students crowded the Univer- 
sities of Italy and Germany, and studied 
Greek be- Greek, which became once more the basis 
mo^ethe 06 °f man ' s higher civilization. Greek again 
basisof humanized Humanity, which had become 
tion. 1Za ~ weary of and disgusted with the prattle of 
theologians, the paintings and carvings of 
crucifixions, of boiled, roasted, hanged, or 
tortured human beings, and of emaciated 
saints, all with sanctimoniously turned-up 
eyes. The flesh was no longer to be held in 
abhorrence, but was to serve the spirit. 
Luther. Whilst Luther and his followers helped to 

shake off the shackles of priestly authority 
Michael in Germany, Michael Angelo and his genial 
Angeio. companions in Italy put an end to mediaeval 
tastelessness in architecture, painting, and 
sculpture, and revived ancient Greek and 
Roman forms; Shakespeare wrote his masterly 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 625 

comedies and tragedies in England. These staks- 
three Reformers represented the whole acti- peara - 
vity of Europe's intellectual force. At this 
time German tailors, shoemakers, and haber- 
dashers were occupied with theology. It Th . e ,. 
was, however, a new theology, which strove ation of 
to rationalize Christianity ; to free it from ^ h ™" 
all mystic and symbolic elements ; from all 
ambiguous casuistry and verbose sophistry, 
and to bring it back to its original simpli- 
city, comprehensibility, and those principles, 
which it possessed in common with all the 
other creeds of Humanity. 

It is not surprising that History written at No History 
this period of universal commotion should period. 
not have been reliable. The most learned 
scholars, professors, doctors, and philoso- 
phers were still fettered in the bonds of pre- 
judice and ignorance. Of this state of*f r - Hem T 
intellectual impotence, the celebrated Eng- Buckie^ 
lish Historian, Henry Thomas Buckle, 
who, in this latter half of the nineteenth 
century, attempted to place History on a 
more scientific basis, gives us two strik- 
ing illustrations. The famous astronomer, Professor 
Professor Stoeffler, of Tubingen (Germany), Stoeffler - 
who had been the first to point out the errors 
of the Julian Calendar, according to which 
time was computed, announced in 1524 that 
he had ascertained, by means of his cal- 
culations, that in that very year the world 
would infallibly be again destroyed by a 
deluge. That such calculations should have a deluge 
been attempted is not in itself remarkable, agam ' 

2 s 



626 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

for since men had first become conscious of 
their mental powers, figures had always pos- 
sessed a peculiar charm for them. The 
learned Professor's statement, based on chro- 
nological tables, enables us to gauge the 
state of the intellectual atmosphere, in which 
even the most advanced and learned men 
lived at that time, and we can readily un- 
derstand that at such a period History could 
not possibly have been written. Intelligence 
of the approaching event was rapidly circu- 
lated, and Europe was filled with consterna- 
tion. To avoid the first shock, those, who 
had houses by the sea or on rivers, abandoned 
them, while others, perceiving that such 
measures would only be temporary, adopted 
more active precautions. The Emperor, 
Charles V., was advised to send out inspec- 
tors to survey the highest points in Europe ; 
,, A ■ -, and another learned professor of canon law — 

M. Aunol. . . n mi i 

professor ' M. Aunol, at 1 oulouse — proposed a new 
iaw anon Noah's Ark; a proposal which was carried 
into effect. The calculations proved wrong, 
but the credulity did not abate. Fear and 
ignorance are not so easily vanquished : 
the conviction that such a deluge never hap- 
pened, and never could have happened, is not 
even now so general as it ought to be. Sixty 
years later a most learned and eminent phy- 
Dr. Horst. sician, Dr. Horst, succeeded, by means of 
calculations, in calming the fears which had 
been excited throughout Germany by a re- 
The child P or t that in Silesia a child had been born 
with a with a golden tooth. This incident was 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 627 

looked upon as a mysterious omen, and s° lden 
" universal anxiety was felt as to what this 
new thing might mean." Dr. Horst, how- 
ever, ascertained that at the birth of the 
child the sun had been in conjunction with 
Saturn, in the sign of Aries. " The event, Meaning of 
therefore, though supernatural, was by no e 
means alarming. The golden tooth was 
the precursor of a golden age, in which 
the Emperor would drive the Turks from 
Christendom, and lay the foundations of an 
empire that would last for thousands of 
years. And this," says Horst, u is clearly 
alluded to by Daniel, the Prophet, in his 
well-known second chapter, where he speaks 
of a statue with a golden head." During 
a period in which, in spite of the mighty 
revival of sciences and arts, such logic was 
used by the learned, History could only be 
silent. 

Though astrologers and alchemists still Criticism 
abounded, though witches were burned and scepticism. 
heretics executed by the Inquisition ; doubt 
in the veracity of the records of the past, and 
in the value of the whole mediaeval period of 
learning, spread more and more. Criticism 
and scepticism, the two fundamental elements 
of History, were abroad. Progress was no 
longer to be checked ; it timidly began, so 
far as History was concerned, and went on 
during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nine- 
teenth centuries without interruption. 

This new period, of which our own is a Francis 
continuation, was inaugurated by Francis Bacon. 

2 s2 



628 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Bacon, who first laid two powerful ghosts 
— Plato and Aristotle ; it was necessary to 
do this and to show that " it is with times as 
it is with ways : some are more uphill and 
downhill, and some are more flat and plain." 
(Francis Bacon.) This applies equally to 
writers and books, whether sacred or profane. 
Some are useful at certain periods, and some 
are required at other times, when previously 
useful books become extremely pernicious, 
and instead of advancing knowledge, retard 
it. Plato and Aristotle were good in their 
times, but they could not for ever serve as 
indisputable authorities. 
idolatry Idolatry, in whatever shape, must produce 
a 2. d i ts the most injurious effects. To discard this 
mediaeval inheritance was the first care of 
Bacon. Facts were to be the anvil ; reason 
the hammer, by means of which the different 
sciences were to be worked, after having 
passed through the burning furnace of ex- 
perimentalism. 

Idolatry was reduced by Bacon to four 
principal forms, and as these are the most 
common hindrances to the composition of 
History, we will here analyse them. 
idols of I. Idola tribus, the idols of the tribe. 

Amongst these idols must be reckoned 
those which are common to all men ; love of 
mysticism, indolence of thinking, vivacity or 
sluggishness of temper, a blind reliance on 
hereditary customs, and an undue veneration 
for what is remote and antiquated. To dispel 
the mists of the past, and to show what was 



the tribe, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 629 

done in times of ignorance and superstition, 
is the task of History at large. 

II. Idola specus, the idols of the cave. idols of 
We are all born, without having the the cave ' 

slightest power of pre-determining this fact, 
in different social and family, national and 
religious caves, which are again divided into 
innumerable sectarian mole-hills. The duty 
of Historians is to free individuals and nations 
from these oppressing influences, which make 
us see facts only from a particular point of 
view. Combinations of political or religious 
parties, the influence of corporations, family 
circles, fashions, customs, books which we read, 
and more often books which we do not read, 
leave their outward impressions on our minds, 
and form so many component elements of 
our mode of thinking, viewing, and arguing, 
generally rendering it impossible for us to 
conceive an unbiassed thought, or to see facts 
in their proper connection as effects of certain 
causes. The dry dust of ignorance, and the 
cobwebs of prejudices which fill these caves, 
must be swept away to free our power of 
dealing scientifically with historical facts. 

III. Idola fori, the idols of the forum or idols of 
market-place. ^Vkce 

These are the prejudices which we imbibe 
when, having crept out of our narrow family 
and sectarian caves, we devote ourselves to 
public life. We then often become incarnate 
specialities, fossils with peculiar crystallisa- 
tions, formed by the calling which we have 
chosen, or which circumstances, over which 



630 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

we had very little or no control, have forced 
upon us. The duty of the Historian is to 
find out the causes of these phenomena, and 
to liberate the specialists from their social 
and mental incrustations, and to show them, 
by means of the law of causation, how the 
same cause in the destinies of mankind 
must produce the same effect, and how a 
difference and variation in the cause must be 
followed by an analogous difference and 
variation in the effect. 
idols of IV. Idola theatri, the idols of the theatre, 

orleetoe 6 or rataei S of tne lecture hall. 

hail. Historians have not only to contend against 

tribal, sectarian, and social prejudices ; they 
have also to do battle with those learned 
writers who feel it their duty to enlighten 
Humanity. Who knock down one set of false 
notions and images, and set up other idols, 
and insist upon their being worshipped, be- 
cause they will not admit of a scientific 
treatment of Historv. Bacon was read 
wrongly, and has been generally misunder- 
stood. He served as an authority for the 

Facts and mere " fact-mongers." It is true that at the 
period when Bacon wrote, facts were ignored 
in all the branches of science, and he had 
therefore, above all, to insist upon the assi- 
duous collection of dry facts ; the narrow- 
minded, however, one-sidedly declared facts 
to be the only things worthy of being 
collected. Facts in Nature, facts in History, 
facts in heaven and on earth, facts in chem- 
istry, astronomy, meteorology, and even 



"faet- 
niongers. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 631 

theology. But what are facts? and what 
facts are to be considered as such, especially 
in the domains of History, in which they 
may be presented from various points of 
view ? These are questions which must 
always occupy the attention of those who 
may attempt to write History. 

Bacon does not insist exclusively on mere Bacon does 
observation, and the collection of facts ; he ^faTts^ 
impresses us with the more philosophical alone. 
duty of comparing, drawing analogies, sys- 
tematizing, and even predicting from given 
facts, or causes, future events, as their effects. 
These are pre-eminently speculative and 
reasoning functions of our mental faculty, 
which a Historian has to cultivate in the 
highest degree. Bacon taught Humanity to 
discard all philosophical and historical sys- 
tems that had been constructed on mere 
assumptions, and to fill the empty board of 
our knowledge anew with records collected 
on the fruitful fields of experience and un- 
biassed inquiry. 

During the whole period of the Middle Two 
Ages there were two great groups of histori- Historians. 
cal writers : 

(a. ) Such as implicitly believed, and never 
troubled themselves to sift probabilities or 
possibilities ; and 

(b.) Such as collected dry facts without 
connection, heaping up details and incidents, Pernicious 
without any attempt to bring order into ^nere 6 
them. These coiners and collectors of facts collections 
troubled themselves with heaping up his- ° acts ' 



632 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

torical petrifactions, often utterly rotten. 
They registered isolated occurrences, that 
were of no value ; labelled detached asser- 
tions with dates, that were either not veri- 
fied, or else arbitrarily chosen ; they strung 
together long rows of events, which some- 
times did, and more often did not, fit to- 
gether, and thus forced upon Historians the 
arduous duty not only of pulling down, but 
of clearing the ground, in order to dis- 
entangle incongruities, and disperse false 
notions. This task became the more diffi- 
cult the less cultivated the historical field 
was, and the more it had been left in the 
hands of untrained workers, who thought 
that every one had a right to force upon the 
public as History, whatever he might be 
pleased to consider so. Historians inherited 
not only the heavy task of constructing, but 
the still weightier obligation of destroying, 
verifying, correcting, eliminating altering, 
or altogether rejecting, antiquated records. 
Facts are mere units which make up the 
sum total of History, like words, which in 
poetry must have harmonious sense, or, in 
philosophy and history, must propound truth- 
ful theories and systems. 
How we \y e haye treated Historiography down to 
Historio- the sixteenth century, not only from a gene- 
graphy. ra j p j n £ f yiew, but have accompanied our 
critical remarks with illustrations, taken 
from the vast store-house of History itself. 
A mere theory of the mode in which History 
should be written, without any attempt to 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 633 

show its practical application, could be of no 
value to scholars who earnestly intend to de- 
vote themselves to the study and composi- 
tion of History. History is really teaching 
by examples, and these examples must not be 
neglected by the Historiographer, more es- 
pecially when he wishes to spread a correct 
understanding of a subject which we have 
called, and have endeavoured in this sketch 
to prove to be, the u Science of Sciences." 

Modern History and its Historians must Modem 
be differently treated. We may assume that ^itl 
the general facts are more known, and may different 

j ? l j_ -x* i. • "I treatment. 

devote ourselves to pointing out single 
writers who made General or Special His 
tory their exclusive study, and who serve as 
pioneers in the art of writing History. We 
must, however, at once remark that the very 
best amongst these approach perfection only 
so far as they come nearest to the ancient 
Greek or Roman classical authors. This 
was the principal reason why we devoted so 
much space to the discussion of those im- 
perishable models in arts, philosophy, and 
History. 

If our readers have carefully followed us How not 
so far, they cannot fail to have perceived History. 
how necessary it is to avoid writing History 
in the way in which it was written through- 
out the Mediaeval period ; and they must 
have gained the firm conviction that a higher 
and more scientific treatment of History 
was, at least in principle, attempted by the 
Greeks. Not only the Romans and the 



634 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Christian Fathers, but all our modern His- 
torians, from the time of the Reformation, 
have endeavoured, in arts and Historiogra- 
phy, to emulate those classical models to 
which we have referred in our third chapter. 
Changes The historical activity to which Humanity 
Historical nas ^ een aroused, and the intercourse between 
relations of nations and nations, have made the treatment 
of History more and more complicated. The 
details are so overwhelming that anyone 
contributing even the smallest mite to the 
grouping of facts, according to a certain sys- 
tem, deserves our attention. We can only 
here notice such writers as have given us a 
deeper insight into the variegated pheno- 
mena of History. 



nations. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 635 



CHAPTER VII. 

With the sixteenth century Humanity The 
began a new life. In religion the " Reform- ^f?™J" 
ation" took place, and broke the absolute the 
power of the Church in spiritual matters; in ' 



sance." 



science and art the same phenomenon is 
called the "Renaissance," or the " Re-birth." 
The struggle to free Humanity lasted for ex- 
actly 100 years, from the middle of the 
sixteenth to the middle of the seventeenth The first 
century, and this period forms the first phase J o a ^ 
of Modern History. The Reformation and History. 
the Renaissance are both incidents that can 
only be explained as attempts to attain a 
readjustment of the disturbed balance of the 
forces working in Humanity. To free the 
human intellect from the fetters of an as- 
sumed authority, that arrogated to itself, in 
State and Church, the exclusive power of 
directing man's thoughts, in order to make 
him good and virtuous in this world, and 
save his soul in another, was the aim of the 
Reformation, and Historians will find that 
this is still going on all over the world. To 
study and to treat modern History correctly, 
it will be necessary to do so synchronisti- 
cally, arranging the different events of dif- 
ferent nations chronologically, everywhere 
tracing action and reaction in apparently 
detached facts. With the Reformation 



636 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

The isolation ceased, and History was no longer 

nations 11 ° f ena °ted exclusively by a single nation, 
ceases. but by all the nations of the earth at the 
same time. At the beginning of that move- 
ment — which the great German philosopher 
and historian, Hegel, describes as "the all- 
enlightening sun, following on that blush of 
dawn which we observed at the termination 
of the mediaeval period " — mighty kings and 
emperors were actively affecting the destinies 
Francis I. of Europe. Francis I. , of France, struggled 
for the possession of Italy and the German 
Henry Imperial crown ; Henry VIII. for his own 
VIIL and his people's independence from the fet- 
Charies v. ters of papal authority ; and Charles V. for a 
juster distribution of the temporal and spiri- 
tual power in Germany. The whole of 
Europe began to assume a more uniform 
aspect ; efforts, that had been isolated in the 
different nations, became more united. The 
politically liberal movement in England un- 
der Queen Elizabeth was seconded by the se- 
cession of the Netherlands on the Continent, 
and the breaking up of the mighty Spanish 
Spanish monarchy, in spite of the 564 millions of 
Monarchy, crowns which were spent by Philip II. dur- 
ing a thirty years' struggle to oppose the 
more rational development of Europe. His- 
tory has scarcely a more impressive example 
of the utter powerlessness of all force to with- 
stand the eternal laws of progress, than the 
rise and decline of the Spanish Monarchy. 
Extent of During one century Spain succeeded in 
annexing the whole of Portugal, Navarre 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 637 

and Roussillon. By diplomacy, or by force Spanish 
of arms, she acquired Artois, Franche Comte domimons - 
and the Netherlands ; also the Milanese, 
Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, the Balearic Islands 
and the Canaries. One of her kings (Charles 
V.) was Emperor of Germany, and his son 
(Philip II. ) influenced the councils of England, 
whose Queen he married. The Turkish power, 
then one of the most formidable in the world, 
was broken and beaten back on every side. 
French armies were constantly worsted; 
Paris was once in imminent danger; and a 
King of France, after having been defeated 
on the field, was taken captive and led pri- 
soner to Madrid (Francis I.). Out of Europe, 
the deeds of Spain were equally wonderful. 
In America, the Spaniards became possessed 
of territories which covered sixty degrees of 
latitude, and included both the tropics. Be- 
sides Mexico, Central America, Venezuela, 
New Granada, Peru and Chili, they con- 
quered Cuba, San Domingo, Jamaica, and 
other islands. In Africa, they obtained Ceuta, 
Melilla, Bougiah and Tunis, and overawed 
the whole coast of Barbary. In Asia, they - 
had settlements on each side of the Deccan ; 
they held part of Malacca, and established 
themselves in the Spice Islands. Finally, 
by the conquest of the noble archipelago of 
the Philippines, they connected their most 
distant acquisitions, and secured a communi- 
cation between every part of that enormous 
empire, which girdled the world. (See " His- 
tory of Civilization in England," by Henry 



638 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



The cause 
of the 
collapse 
of the 
Spanish 
Empire. 



England 
and the 
spirit of 
modern 
times. 

Sweden. 



Thomas Buckle, vol. ii., page 35. London : 
Parker, Son and Bourne, 1861.) Superstition, 
blind loyalty, and, above all, opposition to 
the spirit of the times, were the sandy 
foundations upon which the splendour of 
Spain was built, and whilst England, Ger- 
many, France, and even Italy, held their 
ground, this immense monarchy was de- 
stroyed, through the irresistible force of the 
intellectual movement, in less than a century. 
Spain vanished as a first-rate power; " was 
depressed to the lowest point of debasement, 
insulted with impunity by foreign nations, 
was reduced more than once to bankruptcy, 
was stripped of her fairest possessions, was 
held up to public opprobrium, was made a 
theme on which school-boys and moralists 
loved to declaim, respecting the uncertainty 
of human affairs, and, at length, was exposed 
to the bitter humiliation of seeing her terri- 
tories mapped out and divided by a treaty, in 
which she took no share, but the provisions 
of which she was unable to resent. Then, 
truly, did she drink to the dregs the cup of 
her own shame." " The mistress of the 
world, the queen of the ocean, the terror of 
nations, was gone ; her power was gone, no 
more to return." 

England, on the other hand, thoroughly 
understood the spirit of the times ; she reso- 
lutely broke with the past, and freed herself, 
scientifically and politically. Sweden be- 
came an influential Power through Grustavus 
Wasa ; and Prussia, secularising the half- 



THE SCIENCE OP HISTORY. 639 

ecclesiastical Teutonic Knights, laid the foun- 
dations of her future greatness. For fully 
thirty years Germany shed her blood in the Germany. 
interests of religious and spiritual Freedom, 
at the very moment when in England King 
and Commons were struggling for supre- 
macy, and Cromwell raised Great Britain to 
be the new mistress of the seas. Historians 
will find, in all the variegated phenomena of 
this century, intellect in conflict with anti- * ntel]e °* 

, •> ' , -.in conflict 

quated customs, manners, notions, laws, and with the 
creeds. Man's liberated intellect produced past * 
in the Reformation and the Renaissance a 
terrible cataclysm in the next centuries, after 
which France, having at length vanquished France. 
the turbulent spirit of her vain and unruly 
nobles, became the ruler of Continental 
Europe, by the aid of a powerful centralis- 
ation, worked out by one of the most 
talented and vigorous ministers, Cardinal Cardinal 
Richelieu. The rebellious century was fol- 
lowed by a century of military order and 
war, no longer undertaken for purposes of 
reform, but for the glorification of France 
and her rulers. 

Germany took refuge from the everlasting The 
din of arms, clashing of sabres, trampling of inject 
horses, burning villages, ravaged towns, with 
military parades, official over-regulations, and Germany. 
petty jealousies and intrigues of her princes, 
in the realms of Philosophy and History. 
The mighty force of free thought was no- 
where so highly developed as amongst the 
Teuton thinkers. England, during this se- 



640 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

England at cond phase of Modern History, from the 
the head of middle of the seventeenth to the end of the 
progress, eighteenth century, took the lead in political 
progress, through her undaunted statesmen 
and immortal writers. England theoretically, 
and even more thoroughly practically, laid 
down all those fundamental principles which 
still form the bases of a better and freer social 
and political organization of society, all over 
the world. England prepared the way for 
constitutional liberty, founded on the legal 
demands of the majority of the people. She 
rightly tried to solve the problem of true 
civilization, in allowing the two forces work- 
ing in Humanity to adjust and readjust 
themselves, according to the more or less 
conscious will of the people, which the rulers 
of England considered the best, safest and 
most reliable ground-work to build upon. 
The political superstructure was under- 
taken by influential parties — " Tories" and 
" Whigs," representing the two fundamental 
elements of " reaction " and " action," as 
the vital principles of political associations. 
The Germans, especially in their Prussian 
section, were driven to school by a free- 
thinker, clad in regal purple — the immortal 
fheGreat Frederick II. (the Great)— there to acquire, 
through knowledge and education, indepen- 
dence of intellect. To abolish an absolute 
power in the realms of thought, was the task 
which Frederick the Great set himself, and 
he undoubtedly succeeded in it. He was the 
first prince who surrounded himself with 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 611 

men of learning, philosophers, critics, sati- 
rists, and Historians, without interfering 
with their freedom of thought. He himself 
wrote History ; and was equally just to or- 
thodox and heterodox sects, if they only paid 
their taxes regularly ; honestly performed 
their private and public duties ; and were 
loyal citizens of the State. The Germans 
willingly sacrified their political rights for 
the higher benefits of religious freedom. 

The Church, from the middle of the seven- The 
teenth century, ceased to have any direct ^hi 
influence on political and administrative mat- position. 
ters in England, France, and Germany ; and, 
in the latter country, she even lost her in- 
fhience on educational questions. The Church, 
in spite of the mighty activity of the newly- 
established order, the Jesuits, could not regain 
that power of which she had been deprived 
by the Eeformation ; and, in consequence of 
the Thirty Years' War, which had exposed The Thirty 
once more (it is to be hoped for the last time) ^ r rs ' 
the wild and merciless religious blindness of 
both fanatical parties. They quarrelled about 
grace and transubstantiation, predestination 
and free-will, candlesticks and crosses : about 
the words with which the Lord's Prayer 
should commence ; some asserting the proper 
form to be " Our Father " (Hosier Pater), and 
others " Father our" (Pater noster), both being 
grammatically correct in German and Latin ? 
but not so in the eyes of blind sectarians. 
For these differences they murdered, burned, 
and even skinned each other alive ; and 

2 T 



642 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

torrents of blood were shed. The whole of 
Germany was turned into a " howling wilder- 
ness ; " where flourishing towns had stood 
wolves now took up their quarters ; the high 
roads were deserted ; commerce was annihi- 
lated ; agriculture neglected ; and all the ties 
of order and obedience severed. The whole 
population of Magdeburg was massacred, and 
the town itself reduced to ashes, with the 
exception of the Cathedral and a nunnery. 
" Since the destruction of Troy and Jerusalem 
no such victory has been gained," ran the 
laconic despatch of Tilly, the "religious," 
Christian commander under whom this sav- 
age deed was done, "for the greater glory 
of God." Frederick the Great energetically 
strove to render the recurrence of such hideous 
crimes for ever impossible, and adopted the 
only means to that end in counteracting ig- 
norance, which engenders superstition and 
fanaticism. His glorious efforts to promote 
the education of the people may well obscure 
even his most brilliant victories on the battle- 
Education field. Secular education was established, 
the only rp]^ q^j.^ plotted, and spun her sinister 
counteract webs in secret ; she flattered, and promised 
%norance i mnm nity from all moral obligations to those 
fanaticism, who would help her once more to power and 
influence ; but in vain. At some courts she 
gained, through side-doors and back-stairs, 
some mysterious power to work mischief, but 
the intellectual force, through education and 
a spread of knowledge, baffled all her efforts. 
The emancipation of intellect was an accom- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 643 

plished fact, and bigotry could never succeed 
again in enslaving the minds of the people 
of Europe, under the pretence of satisfying 
man's emotional nature. The " Magna The 
Charta"in England; the Universities and n5 agna 
Schools, and their Educational Codes in Ger- 
many, formed politically and intellectually, 
mighty barriers against another fanatical, 
religious insurrection, which, fire and sword 
in hand, might strive to destroy the precious 
and hardly-won treasures of tolerance. 

The Church of England was, unhappily, The 
left in possession of that hierarchical con- S hu [ c V f 
stitution which she had inherited from the 
Romish Church. She had to subordinate 
herself as a despotic spiritual power to the 
lay authority, but only in politics, from 
which she was practically excluded ; yet the 
Great Remonstrance ; the Bill of Rights ; the 
•■ Habeas Corpus Act;" innumerable Bills 
of Parliament ; the expulsion of the Stuarts ; 
the great Revolution, which placed William 
of Orange on the throne of England; and 
the political emancipation of the people at 
large, left the clergy in the possession of Par- 
sonages and Schools, The Church lost very 
little of her mediaeval influence, so far as the 
upper and middle classes and the Universities 
were concerned; these are still under the 
influence of a priestly authority, which, in 
its pernicious influences, is often worse than 
that of Rome. The latter acts on the 
masses in matters of faith, through Popes, 

Councils, and Synods, whilst the former 

2 t 2 



644 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

crushes man's independence beneath a col- 
lective force, and allows a numerical majority 
of the lay power to decide what it is right or 
wrong to believe. This collective tyranny 
is more dangerous than that of the Roman 
hierarchy ; and until lately the masses in 
Germany, France, Italy, and even Austria, 
were more educated, more advanced in cul- 
ture, taste, and an appreciation of beauty, 
and, above all, less bigoted and intolerant in 
religious matters, than the people of England. 
Since the times of the Thirty Years' War, 
such scenes as occur almost constantly in 
England, and especially in Ireland, leading 
in times of peace to a frequent breach of the 
peace among Christians, are scarcely ever 
heard of on the Continent, 
incon- Historians, in treating of such mysterious 

gruitjesto incongruities, must try to trace the causes 

dp sol vpn ^^ 

by His- which make it possible for a highly educated 
tonans. people like the Germans to forego political 
liberty, whilst a nation like the English per- 
mits her noble youths to be birched, caned and 
flogged under priestly authority, and to be 
treated worse than slaves, so that in the freest, 
most courageous, enterprising, and wealthy 
of all nations, obsolete dogmas and mediae- 
val obscurantism ride rampant. France, after 
having destroyed the Protestants (the Hugue- 
nots) in a sanguinary massacre, and put an 
The end to free thought in religion and politics, 

Revocation through the Kevocation of the Edict of 

of the 

"Edict of Nantes, perverted both forces in Humanity. 
Nantes." g^g directed intellect one-sidedly, as in Im- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 645 

perial Rome, to military matters, conquests 
and victories, and neglected the culture of 
true morals for hypocritical religious formali- 
ties. She thus completely disturbed the 
balance between the two forces, and pro- 
voked the most terrible political revolution 
that ever disgraced Humanity, which was 
cruel and destructive in a ratio proportion- 
ate to the ignorance maintained in the 
French Government by bigoted priests and 
uneducated nobles, sunken in the deepest 
immorality and licentiousness. The more 
powerful the pressure, the more terrible was 
the explosion. The French Revolution is a The 
study in itself, and ought to serve Humanity Revolution 
as a convincing proof, that the forces working 
in man can as little be arbitrarily suppressed, 
as steam in a boiler, if the safety-valve of 
free discussion and association is wanting. 
We must not accuse the perpetrators of the 
horrors of that revolution, for they were but 
the natural outgrowths of the most terrible 
causes. A lively and generous nation, which 
for hundreds of years had been misguided 
and oppressed by worthless priests and 
nobles, by a dissipated and immoral court, 
cheated out of all their rights and trampled 
under foot as the French had been, naturally 
acted as they did. Driven to political mad- 
ness and despair, slowly and systematically 
by those who had not troubled themselves 
to study History, and who played at enact- 
ing it, to satisfy the caprices of courtiers, or 
even of some low and utterly despicable 



646 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

courtezans, what could the French do ? He 
who would play at History must know His- 
Napoieon tory. The brilliant military episode which 
Buona- ushered in the third and present phase of 
Modern History, with Napoleon Buonaparte 
at its head, was merely a revival of the 
Roman Imperial mock comedy, which the 
French believed themselves again destined 
to play in our own times under Napoleon III. 
This ridiculous anachronism ended at Sedan, 
in 1871, as all anachronisms have ended 
and must end, in an utter and disgraceful 
collapse. The third phase of modern His- 
tory is totally different. 
The three During the first phase of modern History 
mod 3 ern 0f ^ ne human mind was destructive, and eman- 
History. cipated itself through the Reformation and 
The first the Renaissance. The activity was gigantic, 
DestVuc- b th on the perishable fields of controversial 
theology and in the imperishable realms of art. 
A reaction followed this destructive rebellion 
against intellectual bondage ; and Humanity 
entered the second phase of modern History, 
led by France. Arts and sciences were to be 
graciously permitted to flourish, under the 
patronage of the Government, and a second- 
hand edition of Caesar Augustus was installed 
in the person of Louis XIV. The purer 
Teuton spirit in England and Prussia op- 
posed this strange anomaly. After three 
generations of a brilliant mismanagement, 
the French found themselves compelled to 
undertake what the English, Netherlanders, 
Prussians, Hungarians, and Americans had 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOKY. 647 

done before them; they had to free them- 
selves ; but they attempted this in such ter- 
rible haste that their efforts ended in military 
despotism. This second phase was one of The 7 

*■ ^P COW (§■ 

religious and political obstruction, and led to obstmc- 
the third phase, in which we see the whole tlve 
of Europe bent on constructive organization. The third 
Communications are improved ; constitu- ^j^tive 
tional institutions are everywhere intro- 
duced ; commerce is to be freed from the 
trammels of protection ; political economy 
has been raised into a science, and History 
is sure to follow. Railroads and telegraph 
wires spread a network of brotherly union 
all over the World ; and what priests, cru- 
saders, wholesale slaughters, burnings and 
wars could not do, steam and electricity 
have accomplished; they have brought union 
into the most antagonistic national ele- 
ments. Everywhere we see morals and Morals and 
intellect better balanced. Religion, as the ^tter ot 
restraining force, has had to yield to in- balanced. 
tellect. Unintelligible dogmas fade away, 
as mythic necessaries of an age in which 
nursery tales and astonishing incredibilities 
amused men-children and kept them from 
harm. Religion becomes more and more 
truly moral, less enigmatical and objection- 
able to thinking and reasoning minds. So 
far as religion touches the emotional in man, 
the clumsy priesthood of dry words will, and 
must be, superseded by another priesthood. 
Musicians, painters, sculptors and poets will 
step into the places of monotonous chanting 



648 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Religion 

and 

intellect. 



and reading, false arguing, and intellec- 
tual stationary tools, in the service of 
morals of a very doubtful character. Were 
this priesthood worthy of its self-appointed 
mission, it would not exclusively address our 
emotional element, which is most easily de- 
ceived and misled, but would also cultivate 
our intellect, as some of its members — like 
Chillingsworth and Hooker, in the past, and 
Bishop Colenso, Dean Stanley, and Principal 
Tulloch, in our own times — have done, and 
still do. These intellectual princes of the 
Church strove to find and to establish a 
balance between morals and intellect — be- 
tween faith and science. We have now 
sketched the historical tendencies of the third 
period of Modern History in broad outlines, 
and will now enter on a detailed record of the 
most important Historians, in whose works 
the progressive movement of Humanity to 
the present time is best reflected. 

To facilitate the survey of human activity 
on the immense field of Historiography, we 
purpose giving the most important writers 
from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centu- 
ries; grouping them according to the Four 
principal Nations that represent North- 
western Civilization, as follows: — Italians, 
English, Germans and French. 

Of these Four groups, two took Greece as 
their model, and two, Rome. The Italians, 
and Germans, more or less, revived the 
Italian and historical spirit of Greece, and cultivated 
Historians philosophical universality in their writings ; 



Arrange 
ment of 
modern 
Historio 
graphy. 



The 

character 
istics of 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 649 

whilst the English and French wrote rather 
in the more exclusively national spirit of the 
Romans. Our general remarks concerning 
the Greeks will therefore serve to charac- 
terize Italian and German writers ; whilst 
the English and French, in spite of some 
attempts at general History, remain prag- 
matical, and impress upon History a special 
national stamp. With them it is the French- French 
man or the Englishman that views matters ^ lish 
from a national or sectarian point of view, 
and not the scientific Historian who treats 
facts objectively. The French and English 
are far too subjective to be real Historians ; 
they were surpassed in the treatment of 
History, first by the Italians, and are now 
left far behind by the Germans. We must 
not here be misunderstood to convey that 
the English and French have no Historians ; 
on the contrary, both nations have given 
Humanity perfect models of History, but 
always more or less from a peculiar point of 
view. This phenomenon may be readily ex- 
plained. The theological bias, pro or con., 
still prevails in England ; and in France, 
notwithstanding all the well-turned phrases 
about the " solidarity of nations," the writers 
have only France, or rather Paris, in their 
minds, and look upon the doings of the 
world through a Parisian glass. 

I. — The Sixteenth Century. 

Italy, during the fourteenth, fifteenth, and Italy. 
especially the sixteenth century, was the 



650 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

first to devote herself to a higher culture of 
arts and sciences. The mighty movement 
of the Renaissance had drawn popes, 
princes, merchants, and the people into its 
vortex. A certain amount of classical feel- 
ing had always been maintained on the 
shores of the Tiber, the Po, and the Arno, 
and Greeks and Romans had never been al- 
together forgotten. The Reformation took 
a different outward form in Italy, but was 
not less a spiritual, social, artistic, and sci- 
entific revolution. 
Italian Francesco Guicciardini (of Florence, 1482 

of the — 1540) was one of the greatest masters of 
century* 1 Italian Historiography. A statesman in the 
Francesco service of Popes Leo X., Hadrian VI., and 
din! mar " Clemens VII., and of the genial and gene- 
rous Cosmo dei Medici, he composed an ad- 
mirable History of Italy , in twenty Books. 
Sixteen appeared, under the title " Istoria 
d' Italia," at Florence, 1561 ; and the other 
four at Parma, 1564. Though a specialist 
(for he gives us only a history of his own 
times), he writes from so elevated and gene- 
ral a point of view, in so masterly and clas- 
sical a style, that he must be classed with the 
best historical writers, worthy of a period 
in which Pope Leo X. sat in the papal chair, 
and Cosmo dei Medici protected and encou- 
raged everything noble in arts and sciences. 
At this period painters, sculptors, poets, and 
philosophers ruled the destinies of mankind, 
side by side with popes and princes. Genius, 
talent, and knowledge were the surest letters 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 651 

of recommendation when princes by birth, 
and princes in commerce, felt themselves 
honoured by the society of God's and na- 
ture's real aristocracy of intellect. Guicciar- 
dini was one of these aristocrats, and it does 
infinite honour to the Popes and Princes who 
used this man of genius, that they rewarded 
him according to his merit. He was the 
first to scientifically trace a cause in the ac- 
tions of men, and called the forces swaying 
Humanity ambition and egotism. We may 
look upon him as the founder of a historical 
school, which was misundertood, and its 
teachings perverted. Like Thukydides, Guic- 
ciardini often makes his different heroes de- 
liver admirable reflections, furnishing us, 
through their speeches, with an insight into 
the hidden social, religious and political 
mainsprings of great historical events. In 
using older authorities he is not altogether 
sufficiently critical, and in speaking of trans- 
actions in which he personally took part he 
is often too diplomatic ; but he is always en- 
thusiastic for everything beautiful, heroic, 
and virtuous, and never dishonours the lofty 
spirit of freedom. His works were con- 
tinued by 

Giovanni Battista Adriani (1513—1579), Giovanni 
who was far less talented than his predeces- Adriani. 
sor, but enjoyed the great advantage of 
working under Cosmo dei Medici, who placed 
his own memoirs at the disposal of the His- 
torian. Adriani shares the bitterness of his 
protector against the domineering Pope 



Nicolo 
Machia- 



652 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Paul III. In his writings, Florence, and not 
Rome, is, with pardonable pride, proclaimed 
as the centre of the world's intellectual ac- 
tivity, and to a certain degree this was true. 
Florence was at that period a second Athens, 
and the age of the Medici may be considered 
as the revival of the age of Perikles. 

Nicolo Machiavelli (1469—1527) rivalled 
vein. ' Guicciardini as historiographer. For centu- 
ries no character was less understood and 
more wrongly abused than Machiavelli. We 
find in " Hudibras " (Part III., canto 1) the 
judgment of the masses condensed in two 
lines : 

" Nick Macliiavel had ne'er a trick, 
Tho' he gave his name to our old Nick." 

Machiavelli and the Devil were considered, 
at least in name, synonymous. It was re- 
served for one of the most genial historical 
Lord writers of England, Lord Macaulay (see 
^MachL below), more than 300 years later, to dispel 
vein. the prejudices against this writer, and to 
assign to him his proper position in the 
Pantheon of fame. " The terms," says 
Macaulay, "in which he (Machiavelli) is 
commonly described would seem to import 
that he was the Tempter, the Evil Principle, 
the discoverer of ambition and revenge, the 
original inventor of perjury; and that, before 
the publication of his u Prince," there had 
never been a hypocrite, a tyrant, or a traitor, 
a simulated virtue, or a convenient crime." 
Machiavelli, the great Historian, because he 
dared to lay bare all the dark recesses of am- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 653 

bition, so-called religion, sensuality clothed 
in vows of chastity, piety and humility, was 
said to have taught the Jesuits to sanctify 
the most diabolical means by the aim, and 
the Sultans to strangle their brothers. He 
was said to have instigated the Massacre of 
St. Bartholomew; the Gunpowder Plot was 
attributed to his Historical teachings. The 
Church of Rome, whom he was said to have 
served most faithfully, by furnishing her 
with all the powerful weapons of treachery, 
ambiguity, and dissimulation, u pronounced 
his works accursed things." If Protestants 
wish to designate a knavish trick, a de- 
ceitful speech, an underhand action, they 
call it " Machiavellian," and by this one 
word mean to convey everything bad and • 
contemptible. And yet his " Historie Flo- His 
rentine " — published at Rome, 1532, in 4to; principal 
at Florence, 1537, in 4to ; at Venice, 1540 — 
1546, in 8vo; translated into English, by 
Bedingfield, London, 1595, in folio — now 
rank amongst the greatest Histories of his 
times. Thukydides, Xenophon, Livy, Dio 
Cassius and Tacitus were his models. He 
acted as ambassador twenty-three times, and 
admirably condensed his keen observations 
in his other masterly work, "The Prince" " The „ 
(II Principe). The truthful reality with which 
he described what has been called diplo- 
macy, appeared so shocking and horrifying 
that it led to the false opinion which was 
spread with reference to this book. It. 
is, however, now read in a different light 



654 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Jacopo 
Nardi and 
others. 



Bernardo 
Segni. 



Ammirato. 



Del 

Bianca. 



as the most crushing satire. The style of 
Machiavelli is unsurpassed ; the pictures 
which he draws of human passion, and the 
fickleness of popular opinion, whenever it 
has not been trained to act on principles, 
but allows itself to be carried away by blind 
passion — far more dangerous in Southern 
than Northern nations — are as true as im- 
pressive. His History, and his "Discorsi" 
(Essays) on the first ten books of Livy, may 
serve every king or ruler as a text book from 
which to learn, how to govern well. His 
works must form a special study with all 
those who attempt to compose History, for 
Machiavelli has given us the very best 
model for writing modern History on clas- 
sical principles. 

The next in importance among the His- 
torians of Italy were : Jacopo Nardi (1476 — 
1555), Filippo de Nerli (1485—1556), and 
Benedetto Varchi (1 502— 1566). The latter 
wrote in the style of Polybius and Tacitus, 
and, in spite of his profuseness, is a reliable 
authority. Bernardo Segni (? — 1558), who, 
in writing the History of Florence, grouped 
round it that of the whole of Europe with 
masterly precision, may be ranked with 
Gruicciardini and Machiavelli, as the third 
great Italian Historian. Scipione Ammirato 
(1531 — 1600), with his son-in-law, Christo- 
foro del Bianca (? — 1646), must be classed 
with the celebrated Historians, to whom the 
archives of Florence were open, and who 
could, therefore, use reliable documents, and 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. . 655 

furnish us with all the necessary means for 
making ourselves acquainted with the spe- 
cial History of Italy. The Italians served 
other nations as models ; but their writers 
had their eyes turned towards the ancient 
Greeks and Romans, and were thus the con- 
necting links between the ancient classical, 
and modern Historiography. 

England had during this period several England's 
Historians of importance, but in all of them f the 
the Chronicler's dry and matter-of-fact method S1 ^ r ntl1 
prevailed. Froissart was their model, and 
the Old Testament, with its genealogical 
tables, was the foundation of their writings. 
The celebrated Walter Raleigh (1552 — exe- waiter 
cuted 1618, just at the beginning of the Raleigh. 
Thirty Years' War) attempted to compile a 
" Universal History," to show the moral and 
religious development of Humanity; but he 
could not finish his work, which was con- 
tinued by the bibliographer, William Oldvs William 
(1696—1761). The work is not of a high 0idys - 
character. 

Raphael Holingshed (? — 1580) wrote Chro- Hoiings- 
nicies, valuable for some facts, which may 
serve Historians, but they are given without 
connection. The work is the joint production 
of several authors, and commences with a 
description of England and her inhabitants, 
by William Harrison (? — 1593); Holingshed wnuam 
then carries the narrative to the Conquest of 
England by the Normaus ; a History and 
description of Ireland is added by Richard 
Stanihurst, with annotations by John Hooker Hooker, 



656 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

and Holingshed ; Harrison followed, copying 

Boyce. Hector Boyce, with a History of Scotland. 

The work ends with the year 1577, and 

Francis Francis Thyner (? — 1608), in an appendix, 

Thyner. brings it down to the year 1586. The 

Chronicle of Thyner gives a faithful picture 

of his times, sketched in sharp outlines, with 

abundant details, and reads like a novel, but 

is to be relied on with regard to the facts 

collected. It is far more valuable than the 

popular History of London, by the tailor, 

John stow, John Stow (1525 — 1605), or the miserable 

the tailor. Q} iron i c l e compiled by the bookseller, Richard 

Grafton (?— 1572). Edward Hall (?— about 
1574) left us a most important History of the 
Thomas social condition of England. Thomas More 
More. (1480 — executed 1535), and George Lilye 
have given us valuable information on the 
Wars of the Roses. Roger Williams (? — 1595) 
and Francis Vere (1554 — 1608) collected 
reliable facts concerning the wars in the 
John Netherlands. John Leland (1507 — 1552) has 
Leiand. f urn ished us with very valuable materials for 
the composition of a History of England ; 
John whilst John Twyne's work, though more 
Twyne. systematic, is less correct. Most of these 
works were written in execrable Monk's 
Latin, and can in no way be compared with 
the masterly compositions of the Italians. 
Facts being all that was required of Eng- 
lish Historians, the critical and philosophical 
spirit and the beauty or polish of style were 
neglected. To this must be added the cir- 
cumstance, that the English language was, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 657 

at that period, in a state of formation ; whilst 
Italian was already a highly - developed 
modern language. 

The Scotch Historians wrote exclusively Boyceor 
in Latin. Their greatest writer was an Irish- Boettnus - 
man, Hector Boyce, or Boethius (1470 — 1550), 
who wrote u Scotormn Historice Libri XVII" 
(The History of the Scots, in seventeen 
books. Paris, fol., 1526). We must admire 
his great independence of spirit, but, at the 
same time, blame his want of critical discern- 
ment, and his inordinate love for everything 
impossible and fabulous. John Maior (1469 J olm 
— 1547) even surpassed him in this. George 
Buchanan (1506 — 1582) wrote a History of George 
Scotland, from the year 330 B.C. to 1553 a.d. BucWn - 
He gives us nothing but fables, so far as the 
ancient History of Scotland is concerned ; 
and when he touches on the Christian period 
he is so rabid and fanatical a Protestant, 
colouring every line with hatred of the 
Catholics, that his work can only serve as an 
example of how difficult — nay, how utterly 
impossible — it is for a zealot, or a blind 
partisan, to write History. The same holds 
good of John Lesly (1527 — 1593), who starts John 
from a diametrically opposite point of view, Lesly ' 
and distorts, abuses, and curses everything 
done by Protestants. In style the two 
writers are entirely unlike. The latter ex- 
pressed his coarseness and partiality of judg- 
ment in the most vulgar and objectionable 
Monk's Latin; whilst the former equalled 
Tacitus in terseness of expression, and Livy 

2 TJ 



658 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

in eloquence. They both give us interesting 
details with regard to the unhappy Mary 
Queen of Scots. 

During this period England's poets were 
far more important than her Historiographers, 
Spenser. f or sne produced Spenser, Chaucer, and, 
Shakes'* above all, Shakespeare. No age, no nation 
peare. k as exhibited works of poetry and History 
so rich in genius, so original in conception, 
so universal in truth and beauty, as those of 
Shakespeare. Johnson said of them, " that 
from his representations a hermit might learn 
to estimate the affairs of the world ; " and 
they have well been called a secular Bible. 
Koman aristocracy, republic and monarchy ; 
the mythic heroic age of Scotland and Eng- 
land ; the first inhabitants of Gaul and Brit- 
tany; the romantic period of chivalry and 
the Middle Ages; English History; the 
customs of different countries and epochs; 
the manifold circumstances of courtly and 
every-day life ; all the passions that fill man's 
heart — love, doubt, hatred, jealousy, ambi- 
tion, vanity, fear, and despair — are delineated 
with the most masterly psychological truth- 
fulness. Feelings aroused by the conflict 
of the individual with the outer world ; 
all possible characters ; haughty and heroic 
princes; intriguing courtiers; casuistic and 
hypocritical priests; covetous Jews, driven 
by merciless Christians to sanguinary re- 
venge ; scheming monks, court fools, cox- 
combs, and cowards, — are all represented by 
Shakespeare from a point of view so far ex- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 659 

alted above prejudice, bigotry, superstition, 
or party, with such soundness and correctness 
of judgment, that he does not belong to one 
generation, but to all generations to come, 
and to those that have passed away. He 
cannot be said to belong to any one country 
or nation, but to all countries and nations, that 
seek to prove worthy to be called civilized. 
Shakespeare displayed in all his delineations 
of man's inner and outer life such great 
wisdom, and so profound a knowledge of 
human nature, that he must be looked upon 
as the most reliable of teachers in all matters His im - 
concerning Humanity. He derived his views toffisto- 
on general morality from a close observation rians 
of man's nature and the outer world, and so 
refined them by a rich inner life, that he 
deserves, more than perhaps any other, to be 
trustfully chosen as a guide on our course 
through life. His works will serve Historians 
as text-books, enabling them to comprehend 
the relations between cause and effect in the 
acting and reacting moral and intellectual 
forces in Humanity. It is the blending of 
universal reality with equally universal ideality, 
that makes Shakespeare the greatest dramatic 
writer of all times and all nations. Without 
an earnest study of Shakespeare, our modern 
times must remain a mystic and incompre- 
hensible riddle, even though we may possess 
a knowledge of all the Chronicles, and be . 
familiar with the contents of all the secret 
and public archives of the world, and of all 
the historical works ever written, 

2 u 2 



660 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



German The Germans especially distinguished 

Historians , -, -, , ± '11 • 

during the themselves during this period by an lmpar- 
sixteenth ^ a | treatment of " General or Universal 
History." The English and French were so 
much absorbed in national particularism, 
considering themselves the true u chosen 
people," round which all the other nations 
had been grouped, as so many appendages, 
to serve for the glorification of one special 
nationality, that they altogether forgot their 
common origin with other human beings, 
and were, above all, English or French. 
This particularism was checked in the 
Italians by an assiduous study of classical 
thought, beauty and truth. They used the 
Church only as means for painting, carving, 
building, writing, singing, and philosophising, 
and were anxious to lose themselves in the 
u Universal," in order to forget the narrow 
fetters of bigotry and superstition. The 
Italians lived a double life. Formally and 
outwardly they were good Papists ; artisti- 
cally and philosophically they were free- 
thinkers, philosophers and historians. Next 
to the Italians were the Germans, who at 
that period had no world of their own in 
politics, and directed the whole of their in- 
tellectual power to the culture of the specu- 
lative Sciences, and general History. 

At the head of the long list of German 
Historians of the sixteenth century stands 
Sebastian Frank, who did not collect many 
original documents, but systematised and 
arranged, what others had compiled, placing 



Sebastian 
Frank. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 661 

it before the world in a comprehensive form, 
without any prejudices. 

Joachim Cario endeavoured, in a critical J°^him 
spirit, to bring order into the Chronology of 
the world's History, but adhered too sla- 
vishly to Ptolemy's four Monarchies (see 
page 382), and was on that ground attacked 
and refuted bv Bodinus in his memorable Bodimis. 
work, u Methodus ad facilem Historiarum cog- 
■nitionem" (Method for the Easy Study of 
Histories; Paris, 1566). He was still more 
completely contradicted by M. Dresser, in M. Dresser, 
his controversial work against the four 
Monarchies, which he traces to some mis- 
understood remarks of the Prophet Daniel. 
Cario's pupil, Melanchthon(1497— 1560), who Meianch- 
was called u Precseptor Germanise" (the 
teacher of Germany), was not only one of the 
greatest religious reformers, full of gentle 
persuasion, but, unlike the bigots of our own 
times, insisted on the study of " General 
History," lectured on the subject at the Uni- 
versity of Wittenberg, and published one of 
the best works on it, taking his master's trea- 
tise as his text-book, and amplifying it with 
many valuable annotations. Melanchthon's 
work was published, 1558, at Wittenberg, 
and translated into French, Spanish, Danish, 
Swedish, and Bohemian. It was at this pe- 
riod, that the first Historical Calendar, men- 
tioning an interesting incident for every day 
in the year, was edited by one of Melanch- 
thon's pupils, Paul Eber (1511 — 1572). PauiEber. 
Such Calendars are to a certain extent of 



662 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

First his- importance even in our times, as they were 

calendars, the first attempts to popularize History in 

Europe. A work of great pretension, vast 

research, and deep learning was the " Uni- 

^°j!£ versal History/' by John Philipson, called 

(called Sleidanus (1506 — 1556). This work passed 

sieidanus). through no less than sixty editions in half a 

century ; showing, how keen an interest was 

taken in general History in Germany more 

Aetata than 30 ° ^ ears a £ 0, His " De ® tatu reli " 
v. gionis et reipublicce Car oh V. Ccesare commen- 

tarii" (Strasburg, folio, 1555) — (Commen- 
taries on the Religious and Political State, 
under the Emperor Charles V.) was largely 
Made use used by William Robertson (see below) in 
wunam ^ s " History of the Reign of the Emperor 
Robertson. Charles V."(3 vols., London, 1769). The work 
of Sleidanus, in twenty-six books, is based 
on documents, collected from the archives 
of Strasburg, and letters from all parts of 
Europe, and gives us an impartial, unbiassed, 
impressive, and truthful account of the state 
of society under Charles V., and the causes of 
the Reformation, which he considers the work 
of Providence, and incalculably beneficial 
to the progress of Humanity. In special 
Historians, treating of her different states, 
Germany is unsurpassed. Every village, 
every town, every district and province had 
Revival it s special Historiographer. The revival of 

of news- *■ • r ,1 • i 

papers. newspapers, in one iorm or another, is due 
to the praiseworthy eagerness of the Germans 
to obtain information. In Germany period- 
ical reports were published in a more re- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 663 

gular form, from about 1493 a.d., on fly- 
sheets, illustrated with woodcuts. The oldest 
fly-sheet known, is a description of the Fu- 
neral of the German Emperor Frederick III. 
Later on notices of the discovery of America, 
the wars with the Turks, the wars between 
Charles V. and Francis I. were circulated ; 
side by side with these more important 
events, we find accounts of murders and exe- 
cutions, ghost-stories, reports of inundations, 
earthquakes, miraculous signs in the heavens, 
monstrous births, &c, commonly in very poor 
rhymes, with still more inferior illustrations. 
It is generally assumed that the first regular 
newspaper was published in England, under 
the title of " The English Mercurio " (1588) ; ^ h 
but newspapers were suppressed in Italy, Mercurio."' 
about ten years earlier, by a Papal Bull, 
issued by Gregory XIII. (1572—1585); and ggw 
this incontestably proves, that the Italians against 
were the first to issue regular periodical re- ^ers. p8r 
ports. In the first excitement of the revival 
of learning every one thought himself com- 
petent to rush into print. Such an inor- 
dinate number of Historical books was thus 
produced, that it would be almost impossible 
to give a list, that would convey an adequate 
conception of the activity of the Germans 
in that branch of literature, Counts, priests, 
pastors, knights, barons, tradesmen, tailors, 
shoemakers, Protestants, Lutherans, Calvin- 
ists, Koman Catholics, Free-thinkers, profes- 
sors, abbots, and bishops all wrote History ; 
every sect took its own views, and repre- 



66i 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Eeatus 
Hhenaims 
(Bildms). 
Trittheim. 



Albert 
Krantz. 



Lucas 
David 



sented facts for a certain purpose. The 
philologist Beatus Khenanus (Bildius),, like 
Trittheim, gave us numberless fables, and, 
only here and there, preserved some useful 
documents. The Syndic of the town of 
Hamburg, Albert Krantz, wrote a History of 
the North of Germany, in which he collected 
valuable details concerning the Slavons, the 
inhabitants of Mecklenburg, Pommerania, 
and Hoi stein, but without any higher philo- 
logical knowledge or critical discernment. 
The effort made by the monks, to counteract 
the gigantic activity of the Protestants, was 
unprecedented. A book written by a heretic 
often produced half-a-dozen refutations ; quo- 
tations from Scripture and quotations from 
the Classics were used on all sides ; bare- 
faced assertions were met by equally insolent 
counter declarations ; and there was a com- 
plete Historical chaos, without light, cor- 
responding to the geological period in the 
formation of the earth's crust, when all was 
fermentation, volcanic restlessness, upheaval 
and subsidence. Huge folios, like Mega- 
theriums and Mastodons, smaller volumes, 
like Ichthyosauri, terrified the masses, looked 
wondrously learned, and were merely the 
uncouth efforts of a nation, that had been 
fettered by ignorance and gloomy supersti- 
tion for a thousand years, to free herself from 
these evils. Amongst the host of writers we 
must mention a Prussian Chronicle, compiled 
by Lucas David (1503 — 1583), full of curious 
facts. It contains the autobiographies of the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 665 

most honourable knights : Gotz von Berli- 
chingen (the hero of one of Goethe's dramas) 
and Hans von Schweinichen. We must also 
refer to the excellent Swiss Chronicles by 
Egidius Tschudi (1505 — 1572), printed only gnduis 
from the year 1000 — 1470 (the continuation 
up to 1564 was not published in 1852), in 
which we have one of the most reliable 
collections of facts and documents, in a classi- 
cally simple style. 

Feance, with her lofty geniality and deep- French 

i i •;• i • —j i i. c 1 • Historians 

rooted critical spirit, can boast ox many his- during the 
torical master-minds, who, in imitation of six teenth 
the Italians, and in analogy w^ith their efforts 
in arts, produced works of greater precision, 
always, however, excessively partial to their 
own nationality, and utterly ignorant of 
anything happening beyond the frontiers 
of their Empire. Jean du Tillet compiled ^* ndu 
many interesting documents concerning the 
ancient history of France, and his brother, 
of the same name, wrote a History of the 
Kings of France ; whilst Claude Fauchet Claude 
(1529 — 1601) published Chronicles, in an 
execrable style, of the ancient History of 
France, down to the reign of Hugh Capet. 
Bernard de Girard, Seigneur du Haiilan Bernard de 
(1535 — 1610) has left pragmatical Annals, leigneur 
written in the spirit of the ancient Romans, du Hainan 
with great independence of opinion, attack- 
ing injustice and corruption, and exposing 
the political imposture of the celebrated Joan Joan of 
of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, as a contemp- Arc - 
tible, though successful, piece of jugglery. *iTWi r tR^ 

NfcW YUHK, N, Y, 



» IRRAHV 



y 



6Q6 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Strange to say, there are still people who 
believe, that a supernatural agency mani- 
fested itself in this dreamy child of a labourer 
of Domremy, in the neighbourhood of Neuf- 
chateau. The episode in its historical truth- 
fulness serves as a convincing proof that 
prejudice and superstition are stronger, than 
heroic courage. Visions and apparitions of 
the Holy Virgin, and the Archangel St. 
Michael had a greater power, than manly de- 
cision and good generalship. The girl on 
horseback terrified the staunch hearts of the 
indomitable English, because they believed 
her to be the Devil, fighting for the French. 
They were therefore overawed, dumb with 
confusion and astonishment, and stood mo- 
tionless, whilst the maid led her army 
through the enemy's ranks, and took Orleans. 
France was always far richer in memoirs, 
biographies, and court anecdotes than in 
real historical works. Suetonius, Fiorus, and 
Martialis were the models which the French 
writers imitated. To amuse, to divert, to 
excite, was their task. Minute details, 
highly interesting to the persons concerned, 
abound, but, these only so far serve as mate- 
rials for real History, as they enable us to 
study the licentious depravation of the upper 
classes, and the ill-treatment of the middle 
and lower classes, who had no rights and 
were not considered worthy of any consider- 
ation. In this spirit wrote Paradin, a Pro- 
FranQois testant of very lukewarm feelings. Francois 
Hotman gave a true and appalling descrip- 



Memoirs 
more culti 
vated in 
France. 



Paradin. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. (367 

tion of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, 
(translated into English, London, 1573), and 
Nicolas Barnaud treated the same subject, Nicolas 

. .,-• »t . pji • Barnaud. 

as a mere terrible punishment 01 the mis- 
guided subjects of a good and pious, believing 
and supremely religious king ! The memoirs 
of Queen Marguerite de Valois (published JJ"^ e " 
in Paris, 1628), and those of Pierre de Bour- Vaioi*. 
deille (known under the name of Brantome) ^ran- 
must be mentioned. Both are written in a tome). 
lively, and even graceful style, and are 
highly important, as they expose the super- 
ficial spirit, pervading the higher classes of 
France. There is an abundance of wit, or 
rather " esprit," in these two works, and the 
latter is sufficiently full of scandal to have 
satisfied any degenerate Roman dandy of 
the times of Petronius Arbiter. 

II. — The Seventeenth Century. 

Historiography made little or no progress 
during this period. The intellectual activity 
was great, but the political, religious and 
social confusion which prevailed throughout 
Europe, hindered the learned of all nations 
from devoting themselves to calm and ear- 
nest historical studies of facts, in which the 
masses were too deeply interested. England 
was exclusively plunged in religious contro- 
versies and political difficulties. Germany 
was one great battle-field, but France cele- 
brated her Augustan period of refined Lite- 
rature, the moving spirit of which was 
Cardinal Richelieu, who understood how to 



668 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

place France at the head of Europe, not only 
by means of brute force and the cunning in- 
trigues of a most perfidious diplomacy, but 
through an enticing, voluptuous, spirited, 
and highly elegant Literature. Exaggera- 
tion, sickly sentimentality, and a ridiculous 
artificial ness distinguished French composi- 
tion. The polished form became everything. 
Truthfulness and impartiality were sacri- 
ficed to a " bon mot." In poetry knights 
sighed as Arcadian shepherds. In the Hotel 
Rambouillet, at Paris, the current ideas, 
pervading French Literature, were manufac- 
tured by passionate ladies and their favour- 
ites. Novels were far more appreciated than 
History, which was too dry, too prosaic. 
The drama, though based on historical 
events, was not to give offence through 
veracity, or a deeper treatment of the pas- 
sionate motives of man's actions ; it was to 
stimulate the relaxed nerves of the upper 
classes in a gentle, and, as they supposed, 
classical style, by sensational phrases, hor- 
rors of incest, perjury, and murder, all in 
correct and stilted Alexandrines. As with 
the ancient Romans, law formed the most 
important study, and this was combined 
with a superficial knowledge of the classics. 
Saimasius. S a l masnis ( Claude Saumaise, 1588 — 1653), 
first a pupil of Casaubonus, at Paris, studied 
law under Dionysius Godofredus at the Uni- 
versity of Heidelberg; became an advocate 
and Parliamentary councillor on his return 
to Paris ; and was considered a perfect mar- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 669 

vel of learning, because he wrote no less 
than eighty works, each of them of consider- 
able extent. Voltaire (see below) treated 
this pedantic bookworm with well-merited 
ridicule. Queen Christina of Sweden, at 
whose court he lived for a short time, took 
the same view of his worth as Voltaire, for 
she used to speak of him as " one of the 
most learned idiots " (omnium fatuorum stul- 
tissimus). Salmasius and Casaubonus are 
still held in high esteem by some English 
savants, who prefer works that kill the mind 
and the thinking faculty to less ambitious, 
but more intelligible and sensible Historical 
studies. Salmasius was, however, a Protes- 
tant, and disputed with the Jesuit Petavius 
(Denis Petau) in a vigorous and vulgar way, 
and this made him, in the eyes of England, 
a champion of truth. _ ° ' 

In Germany the raging Protestant contro- 
versialists disgusted all better educated and 
more refined minds. The schools were per- 
verted into theological seminaries, whilst in 
France and Holland the teachers were en- 
gaged in commenting on the ancient clas- 
sics, in order to make them household words 
amongst the people. 

In reviewing the Historiography of Italy Histori- 
during the seventeenth century we have onlv °s ra v h J 

i c ' - tt-w v' m Italy 

two works ot importance to point out. Paolo during" the 
Sarpi^ (of Venice, 1552—1628), a most dis- £££ 
tinguished philosopher, a Cryptocalvinist century. 
(secretly addicted to Calvinism), wrote a Paolo 
valuable u History of the Council of Trent/' Sarpi ' 



670 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

in which he attacked the uncontrolled power 
of the Pope, foreshadowing the necessity for 
the abolition of the Pope's temporal and 
also spiritual authority. It was objected to 
his work that he always found the Popes in 
the Wrong, and the Protestants in the right ; 
but there are times, in which it would be 
wholly impossible for anyone to stand above 
party opinion ; and in such instances we 
must endeavour to ascertain, whether the 
writer took the views likely to be right, and 
this is, what Sarpi undoubtedly did. He was 
Sforza opposed by Cardinal Sforza Pallavicini, who 
^ lavl " proved, at least to his own satisfaction, that 
Sarpi was wrong on 361 points, not counting 
innumerable distortions, errors purposely 
committed, and suppressions of facts which 
must have been known to him. It is unfor- 
tunate that Pallavicini should have written 
so very badly, whilst Sarpi was not only 
master of a classical style, but was always 
logical and convincing in his general and 
special assertions, which Pallavicini cer- 
tainly was not. Sarpi' s work was the first 
attempt at a pragmatic Church History, and 
we must class it with the very best historical 
productions in existence. 
Historio- England neglected " General History " 
mEngiand during this period with the same obstinacy 
during the as j n ^ e preceding; century. Mediocrity 

seven. - -^ ** •* 

teenth and a dry compilation without any system 
century. are ^q general characteristics of those who 

devoted themselves to the writing of History. 

There was an abundance of bricks and mortar, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 671 

but no architect to put the material into any 
shape. Samuel Daniels (1562 — 1629), Robert Samuel 
Brady (1628— 1700), Richard Baker (1568— ££ 8 - 
1645), and the learned William Camden Brady. 
(1551—1623) merely heaped up facts in the }£££* 
very best Chinese style. Their works are William 
only Annals, or at most Chronicles, in which 
nothing is properly classified, nothing con- 
nected by some principle of causation. The 
providential notion of St. Augustine rules 
supreme in all these writings, " what is to j h n 
happen will happen." John Selden (1584 — Seiden. 
1654), R. Twysden and John Fell (1625— f^ WJS ' 
1686) worked in the field of Jewish archse- John Fel1 - 
ology with great learning, but were not free 
from prejudices and showed a lamentable want 
of all critical power. In single Biographies 
the English Historians were more successful. 
Arthur Wilson (1596 — 1652) has left us a Arthur 
diffuse, but not altogether uninteresting, His- Wilson - 
tory of the curious character of James I., and 
his outrageous principle of government "by 
the grace of God" — which cost his son both 
throne and head. The principal work of 
Wilson will well repay careful study, if read 
by a trained mind ; it was published under 
the title of " The History of Great Britain, 
being the Life and Reign of King James I." 
(London, 1653, fob). George Bate (1608 — George 
1669) correctly catalogued the incidents, of 
which he had been an eye-witness, under 
the governments of Charles I., Cromwell, 
and Charles II. Memoirs, in imitation of 
those written by the French, became very 



672 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

numerous, which, although more reliable than 
their models, were composed in a less 
refined style. In England, politicians, minis- 
ters, lords, and barons did not so much write 
History, which was certainly not treated as 
a science, as condescendingly jot down 
what they saw or experienced during their 
life. There was some advantage in this liter- 
ary fashion. The characters of these writers 
and their station in life were guarantees for 
their good faith ; but, on the other hand, 
they were always inspired by a one-sided 
class or party interest. They did not tell 
falsehoods, but they only looked upon facts 
from their own special point of view, and could 
never see that truth might be on a side which 
they had not taken, or concerning which 
they knew nothing, and never troubled 
themselves to acquire knowledge. The real 
agents of History are rarely good Historians 
in the higher sense of the word. To act and 
to observe, to be subjectively interested in 
political commotions, and yet objectively 
observant of, and to record facts with an un- 
biassed and impartial mind, is a task which 
has rarely been attended with success. To 
The illustrate this, we may refer to "the Grand 

Remon- Remonstrance," which was one of the most 
strance." important incidents, if not the incident, in 
the History of England, during the seven- 
teenth century. " The Grand Remonstrance" 
was one of the most complete acts of justifi- 
cation of the great Rebellion ; it contained, 
as a State paper, the whole case of the nation 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 673 

and of Parliament against the Ministers of the 
King. It was a short, but a most complete and 
accurate statement of the wrongs done to 
the people, during the fifteen years of the 
reign of Charles I. ; and forms, therefore, 
the only means which Historians possess of 
understanding, and judging the memorable 
events of that period. 

Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon (see TheE ir iof 
below), who played a prominent part in the claren,Joa - 
attempt to obstruct and prevent the publi- 
cation of the u Grand Remonstrance" to the 
people, mentions the document, but has fal- 
sified and misrepresented the debates con- 
cerning it, of which there was no published 
record ; and in addition has misquoted 
and garbled the original, and given the 
world a mere fragment of a summary. David ^ avid 
Hume and the other Historians of the last 
century thoughtlessly copied Clarendon. Sir sir Philip 
Philip Warwick's account is naturally partial, Warwlck - 
for he was a faithful servant of the King, 
and it would have been wron^ of him to 
have written differently. The great Hallam Haiiam. 
(see below) devoted seven or eight lines to 
the " Grand Remonstrance ; " Lingard gave Lingard. 
a very superficial record of it, with almost 
equal brevity ; Lord Macaulay just mentions Lord 
it, but does not see in it the cause of other- Macaula y- 
wise inexplicable effects ; Carlyle treats it in Cariyie. 
the same way ; Godwin passes it over in Godwin, 
silence ; and Disraeli (now Lord Beacons- Disraeli, 
field) handles it from a Tory point of view ; 
whilst all were incapable of seeing the proper 

2x 



674 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

bearing of this historical fact on the future 
social and political organization of England. 
Thus one person, interested in the trans- 
action, caused this great distortion of real 
facts ; and, under the false impression, that 
he must have known best, later Historians 
heedlessly copied him, till, in 1860, Dr. John 
Foster placed the " Grand Remonstrance" 
in its proper Historical light. We must, there- 
fore, exercise great caution in making use of 
Francis the memoirs of the active politician, Francis 
hlm sing " Walsingham (1500—1590) ; the Republican, 
Francis Francis Osborn (1589 — 1659); the zealous 
Osborn. Scotch Protestant, James Melville (1545 — 
James 1614) ; and of the renowned official, William 

Lotd 1116 ' Cecil > Lord Burlei g h (1520—1598), who has 
Burleigh, left us valuable records and annotations of 
the times of Queen Elizabeth and James I. 
These works were published in the seven- 
teenth century. To them must be added 
Oliver the u Memoirs of the Protector, Oliver Crom- 
Cromwell. we u ? anc [ hi s Sons, Richard and Henry; 

Letters and other Family Papers," by Oliver 
Cromwell, a descendant of the family. Lon- 
Thomas don, 1826. Re-edited by Thomas Carlyle, 
Cariyie. un der the title of " Oliver Cromwell's Letters 
and Speeches, with Elucidations," London, 
1857. Some of the letters and reports of the 
speeches are of rather doubtful authenticity. 
In addition, we have the thoroughly trust- 
Edmnnd worthy Memoirs of the Radical, Edmund Lud- 
low (1602 — 1693); the unbiassed " Records 
of the English Affairs, from the beginning 
of the Reign of Charles L," &c. (London, 



Ludlow. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 675 

1682 and 1732, in folio), by the distinguished Bustrode 
lawyer, Bustrode Whitelock (1606— 1676) ; mitelock 
the classically, but one-sidedly written " His- 
tory of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in 
England," begun in the year 1641, by the 
Royalist, Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon Edward 
(1608-1674); and a work by the talented % e a ^ 1 
Clement Walker (? — 1651), who distinguished don. 
himself by a boundless hatred of Cromwell. 
Special Histories of the reigns of Charles II. 
and James II. were written by the Bishop of 
Salisbury, Gilbert Burnet (1643—1714), and gflbart 
by the great diplomatist, Sir William Temple 
(i 629— 1700). Of the latter, the best edition 
which we possess, appeared under the title, 
"Memoirs of the Life and Works of Sir Sir 
William Temple, with his Unpublished Cor- Tempi™ 
respondence," by T. T. Courtenay, London, t. t. 
1836. We must also mention two works, Courtena y« 
which could not fail to make a certain im- 
pression, but both of which were not authentic, 
and must be pronounced worthless; these are : 
" The Autobiography of King James II.," 
and a work which appeared under the title 
of ELrfr pam\u$ (Eikon Basilike), u %al2^„ 
Image," attributed to King Charles I. ; 
against which Milton wrote his EkowweWnfc Milton. 
(Eikonoklastes), " Image breaker." Such 
works sometimes throw light on the tenden- 
cies and aspirations of a Historical period, 
if they are used with proper caution, and 
not treated as indisputable authorities. John John 
Rushworth's (1607—1690) "Historical Col- se- 
lections," beginning from 1618 to 1644 

2x2 



676 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

(London, 1682-92, folio, in 6 vols.), afford 
reliable materials for a correct understanding 
of England's History and Parliamentary pro- 
ceedings under Cromwell and Charles II. 
The work is very ponderous, and the style 
is not the best; but the debates reported 
and the documents, especially the " Grand 
Remonstrance," quoted, are of great impor- 
tance. Scotland had only two writers worthy 
David of mention as general Historians : David 
Home - Home (1560 — 1630), who describes the 
spread of the Reformation in Scotland ; and 
William William Drummond (1585 — 1649), who, 
mond!" though a determined Royalist and Legiti- 
mist, never allowed his convictions to bias 
the justice of his judgment ; he was able to 
appreciate facts on both sides. 
Historic*- In Germany, Historiography, from a gene- 
Germany 1 ra l P om t of view, was less cultivated during 
during the this agitated century. Sleidanus ruled su- 
teentii preme, whilst Christian Matthia (1584 — 
century. 1655) and John Micralius (1597—1658) 

Christian -, n • . ,, .. -i v .. • y 

Matthia. made lamt attempts to apply certain prm- 
™ hn r ciples, deduced from general History, to the 
special events in Germany, and endeavoured 
to trace some analogy in the laws, producing 
John different historical facts. John Philip Abe- 
2^ p lin (? — 1646), who wrote, under the name of 
(Godo- John Lewis Gottfried (or Godofredus, or 
ffiob^' Gothofredus), and Hiob Ludolf (or Leuth- 
Ludoif (or olff, 1624 — 1704), two popular chroniclers, 
M?chaei ff ^ were simply industrious compilers. Michael 
Caspar Caspar Londorp collected original docu- 
ments, relating to the thirty years' war, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 677 

under the title of u Acta publica" (Public 
Acts); Hermann Conring (1606 — 1681) was Hermann 
the first to write statistics on a scientific Connn s- 
basis, and thus enabled the celebrated 
Samuel Pufendorf (1632—1690), to publish Samuel 
his text-book of European State history, a 
work, combining the principles of Interna- 
tional Law with Statistics and History. 
Pufendorf, the contemporary of John Locke 
and Spinoza, is still considered one of the 
greatest authorities ; and though he in- 
tended his work only for diplomatists, start- 
ing from a strictly practical and political 
point of view, it must be looked upon as the 
first, in which the writing of History was 
attempted on new and more scientific prin- 
ciples. Pufendorf was Historiographer to 
the Swedish Court, and in addition to his 
" De Jure Naturce et Gentium Libri octo" 
(On the Laws of Nature and Nations, 
Eight Books), we have his best work, in 
Seven Books, " On Charles Grustavus, King 
of the Swedes " (De Rebus gestis Car oil Gus- 
tavi Suecorum regis Libri VII), illustrated 
with admirable plans, drawn by the engineer 
Dahlberg, under the direction of Wr angel 
and the King himself. Pufendorf first intro- 
duced the study of u National and Natural 
Law,' 7 based on History, at the Universities 
of Germany. He was supported by the 
generous and high-minded Elector- Palatine, 
Charles Louis, who founded the first special 
chair for that subject in the University of 
Heidelberg. Under the assumed name of 



678 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Severinus a Monzambano, Pufendorf published 
a work " On the Legal Constitution of the 
German Empire," which he calls " a politi- 
cal monstrosity." He most diligently studied 
the works 0/ Grotius and Hobbes, was far in 
advance of his times, and was one of those 
master-minds whose influence is felt even in 
our own days. Amongst the numerous writers 
of History who copied one another, repeating 
what others had said before them, collecting, 
compiling, arranging and re-arranging more 
ancient works, translating and publishing 
classical Historians, we will only mention 
Gottfried Gottfried William Leibnitz, the great philo- 
Ste. S0 P her (1646—1716), who has left us, be- 
sides invaluable documents with reference to 
the historical transactions of his times, some 
highly interesting researches, concerning the 
early history of the German Emperors. His- 
toriography, though endowed with new 
vigour, had to give way to other sciences 
which engaged the attention of the world. 
Kepler and The illustrious Kepler and Galileo made their 
Galileo, important discoveries in astronomy ; Har- 
Harvey. vey (1569 — 1658) surprised the bigoted with 
his theory of the circulation of the blood ; 
Huygaens. Huyghens (1629 — 1659) perfected the tele- 
Tschim- scope; Tschirnhausen (1651 — 1708) re-m- 
archer, vented the burning mirror ; Athanasius Kir- 
cher (1601 — 1680), one of the most learned 
Jesuits, constructed the first speaking trum- 
pets, which in our times have developed 
Haiiey. into the Telephone ; and Halley propounded 
a new theory on comets. The terrible 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 679 

religious and social convulsion was accom- 
panied by an unparalleled activity in all 
the most important branches of applied and 
speculative Sciences. Systems of Philosophy 
and Encyclopaedias were worked out. Lee- Encycio- 
tures were given by John Christian Lange p^ias. 
(1669 — 1723), at the University of Griessen, christian 
on all the branches of human knowledge, in Lm § e - 
which he used the work of Peter Meuderlin 
(1582 — 1651) as a text book. The Sciences 
were classified by Charles Sorel de Souvigny Souvigny. 
(1599 — 1674), and a Penny Magazine was p^L 
started by the renowned Happel, at Frank- Magazine. 
fort-on-the-Main, under the title of u Rela- 
tiones Curiosw" 1683, containing memorable 
events from all parts of the world. 

Fbance at this period surpassed all other Historio- 
coun tries, so far as the quantity of her His- f^ce m 
torical works was concerned, but their quality during the 
was doubtful. Scipion Dupleix (1569 — 1661) ^th 
wrote a History of France, from King Pha- century. 
ramund to 1646 a.d., and was the first to DupieL. 
mention his authorities in marginal notes ; 
but his work is of no value, on account of 
his bad style, and want of criticism. Eudes Eutfes de 
de Mezeray (1610— 1683) distinguished him- ^ e ™y 
self, during the minority of Louis XIV., by court). 
writing, under the name of Sandricourt, 
spirited satires against the government. He 
was the founder of an entirely new method 
of composing History. He attacked the ex- 
isting institutions, without attempting to point 
out any means of improvement to his readers. 
He inaugurated the negative school of His- 



680 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

torians ; sought to use History as a means of 
spreading dissatisfaction, and collected facts 
for the purpose of destroying all authority 
in the State. He complained of over-taxation, 
flattered the passions of the ignorant mob, 
and was himself one of the most despicable 
characters. He hunted down Colbert, who 
was a great statesman and the founder of Poli- 
tical Economy, because the subvention which 
he had received from the king's treasury, 
was reduced. After his death, the real cause 
of his liberal utterances was discovered in a 
sealed money bag, bearing a label, on which 
were inscribed these words: "Voici le dernier 
argent que j'ai recu du roi, aussi depuis ce 
temps je n'ai plus dit da bien de lui " (Here 
is the last money which I received from the 
king, and since that time I have said no 
Antoine further good of him). Antoine Varillas 
Variiias. (1624 — 1696) was long considered an ex- 
cellent and highly interesting Historian, of 
deep and original research, till it was dis- 
covered, that the official MSS. which he was 
supposed to have used as authorities, had 
never existed, save in his own fertile imagi- 
nation. Such voluntary, and in the case of 
mere copyists perhaps involuntary, falsifiers 
of History have brought discredit on this 
important branch of learning, and their works 
have served as a terrible weapon in the hands 
of the opponents of lay Historians ; falsifica- 
tions being only permitted in sacred writings. 
Paul Of this the work of Paul Peronne (1639 — 
Peronne. 1706 j is an sample. He defended the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 681 

Chronology of the "Septuaginta," and proved 
that the world, prior to the birth of Christ, 
must have existed for 5,872 years ; that the 
Gauls had been the direct descendants of 
Gomer, the son of Japhet, who spoke the 
same language, as the people now speak in 
Lower Bretagne and Wales. 

During the second half of the seventeenth 
century, which comprises the so-called golden 
age of French Literature, under the reign of 
Louis XIV., collectors of anecdotes, genea- 
logists, petty biographers, compilers of court 
intrigues and amorous cabals ; recorders of 
the petty sayings of princes, archbishops, 
bishops, and nobles ; and in general, babblers 
of vain things, "were lying in wait at 
every corner, and infested the public high- 
way" of Historical Literature. Love stories 
of the Gauls were written by Charles Patin ; Charles 
the memoirs of (Anna Maria Louisa, Duchess 
of Orleans) Mademoiselle de Montpensier Mdiie. de 
(1627—1693), full of chatty gossip, inaugu- J^ r# 
rated a most objectionable class of historical 
literature, which, half romance, half " chro- 
nique scandaleuse," entirely destroyed the 
taste for more earnest works, and directed the 
attention of readers to miserably unimportant 
trifles. Abbes and ladies took to writing; 
counts, barons, generals, and dukes dipped 
their pens into perfumed ink, and on per- 
fumed paper wrote their morally despicable 
and coarse Histories, which, like the writings 
of a De Sandras, served novel writers, as De 
welcome sources, whence to draw material Sandras - 



682 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Gravi- 
tation. 



for the satisfaction of the depraved cravings 
of a public that loved change and sensational 
excitement. The evil which these writers 
wrought, can only be measured by the fright- 
ful incidents of the French Revolution, to- 
wards the end of the eighteenth century. 

There had never been so great a contrast 
between two nations in the world's History, 
Fir Isaac as there was at this time between England 
and France. Newton traced his laws of the 
Taiiemant Universe, whilst Gedeon Tallemant de Reaux 
deReaux. delighted the thoughtless French with his 
" Historiettes " (Little Stories) of the most 
pernicious kind. Gravitation was the mys- 
tic word with which Newton, as though by 
enchantment, suddenly explained all the 
phenomena of the visible world in space and 
time. Isolation was done away with in the 
material world ; bodies were found to act on 
other bodies, and the minutest particles com- 
posing these bodies were subject to the same 
law. Why should this not be the case in 
society too, and with man in society? was the 
question which evolved itself out of the new 
principle upon which the study of nature was 
now based. Up to the seventeenth century, 
in spite of Greek philosophers ; Roman dialec- 
titians and orators ; Christian casuists and 
"Emotionalists;" Jewish Rabbis and Cabal- 
ists ; learned mediaeval Realists and Nomi- 
nalists ; men had continually confounded 
cause and effect, and pandered to prejudices, 
and mere assumptions, based on misunder- 
stood, or unexplained facts. Now, however, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 683 

tlie " Supernatural " was inquired into, on 
the basis of the law of probability, by such 
minds as John Locke (1632 — 1704), and ™£ 
Spinoza (1632 — 1677), who finally broke the Benedict 
spell of ignorance, and showed Humanity g B ^^ 
that we can know nothing beyond what our 
senses can grasp. Impressions and sensations, 
or, as John Locke says, reflections, are the 
only gates or windows, openings or crevices, 
through which the dark night of our intellect 
may receive some rays of knowledge. Abso- 
lute Essences or Substances cannot be grasped 
at all by our finite senses, but cause and 
effect may be known through sensations and 
reflections. Locke reduced all facts to three The three 

„ j n • categories 

categories :— of <f cts by 

(a.) Natural phenomena. Locke. 

(b.) The actions of men. 

(c.) Opinions. 

We have thus received, through him, in 
applying his generalizations to particulars, 
three fundamental divisions of learning, The three 
embracing all human knowledge : — of learning. 

1. Physics and Mathematics. 

2. History, General and Special. 

3. Philosophy, Realistic and Idealistic. 

In making this simple, yet masterly divi- 
sion, Locke, like Lord Francis Bacon, had at 
the very outset to wage war against prejudices 
— " of which everyone is ready to complain, 
that they mislead other men or parties as if 
he were free, and had none of his own. 
This being objected on all sides, it is agreed 
that it is a fault and a hindrance to know- 



684 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



The cure 

for 

prejudices. 



Faith and 
know- 
ledge. 



Agnostics. 



Credulity- 
no proof of 
truth. 



ledge. What, now, is the cure? No other 
but this, that every man should let alone 
others' prejudices and examine his own." 
The only means of removing the great cause 
of ignorance and error, namely prejudice, is 
self-knowledge, and the unwearied study of 
General History. Locke placed experience, 
thought and reason above ignorance, faith 
and credulity. Faith was not altogether 
eliminated by him. It was, however, rele- 
gated to its proper place, from which it will 
never again be removed. Faith was proved 
to begin, where knowledge ceased, and was 
the purest criterion of ignorance. This truth 
has been systematized by modern Historians 
and philosophers, especially in Germany, and 
has produced a school of philosophers who 
are called " Agnostics," meaning " Not 
knowers." A state of u Agnosticism " is, 
however, undoubtedly preferable to a state 
of utterly useless and, moreover, false know- 
ledge, fostering credulity. " Credulity, how- 
ever wide spread, is no proof of truth," says 
Locke. " Even revelation ought to stand 
the test of reason, and fanaticism is no crite- 
rion for the divine origin of any creed ; " or 
else we should be obliged to look upon Bud- 
dhism, the most widely spread, and Mahomet- 
anism, the most fanatical, as the only two re- 
ligions of truly divine origin. With trenchant 
logic, Locke dispersed the fallacies of dog- 
matism, rejected in a free critical spirit 
all previous metaphysical problems, and 
showed Humanity at large that philoso- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 685 

pliical systems, apparently true, may be 
merely verbal chimeras without any real 
foundation. With his lucid truthfulness, Locke the 

t T , i n t n . • n founder of 

ne became the founder 01 an entirely new a new 
school in Philosophy and History, which scl1001 - 
broke with old traditions in Theology 
and Politics. His u Letters on Tolerance" " L ® tt ® rs 
influenced not only Voltaire and the French ance." 
Encyclopaedists, but also very greatly the 
genial German Historian, Herder, and the 
titanic German historical critic, Lessing, 
who both made tolerance and forbearance, 
the very foundation of Historical research. 
Locke's " Thoughts on Education " pro- "Thoughts 
duced Rousseau's " Emile," in which, un- £i on E - uca " 
happily, the practical advice of John 
Locke was altered by his French adapter, 
though in an admirable style, into senti- 
mental vagaries and impossibilities. The 
German Basedow, on the other hand, built Basedow. 
upon Locke's principles, a systematic method 
of Education, and began to teach Philan- 
thropy, or " Humanism," in the very broadest 
sense of the word. Basedow, in his eager- 
ness to be original, became excentric, and pro- 
pounded many wrong ideas with regard to the 
study of the Classics, and their pernicious in- 
fluence. He would not have been altogether 
wrong, if Classics were still taught, as they 
then were in Germany, and as they are gene- 
rally taught in England even now ; the heads 
of students being crammed with grammatical 
formalisms, whilst no attempt is made to ac- 
quaint them with the Humanitarian principles, 



686 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

pervading the writings of the ancients ; which 
certainly serve, when thus treated, rather to 
deaden than develop our reasoning faculty. 
"On Finally, Locke's treatise u On Government," 
Govern- together with Hobbes's work, " Be Give " (On 
the Citizen), furnished the entire contents of 
the u Contrat Social'' (The Social Contract), 
by Rousseau, the sacred text-book of the 
French Revolution of the eighteenth cen- 
tury. Without a diligent study of these 
works an understanding of the historical de- 
velopment of the eighteenth and nineteenth 
centuries is impossible. The next guiding 
mind of this period was Spinoza, who op- 
posed Descartes' s mechanical explanation of 
Spinoza the construction of the Universe. Spinoza 
was condemned as an atheist by the igno- 
rant and bigoted Talmudists, by the blind 
sectarians of various denominations, and by 
many who probably never read a line of his 
works, or altogether misunderstood his deep 
philosophical principles ; yet he was one of 
the most devout believers in God. He formed 
so high and sublime a conception of the 
Deity, that he recognised Him in the mi- 
nutest pebble, the sparkling diamond, the 
smallest drop of water, the myriads of 
twinkling stars, the force of the wind, the 
roaring of the thunder, the flashing of light- 
ning, the voice of justice, our impulses of 
goodness, our love of wisdom, the pulsation 
of our heart, the thought-bubbles of our 
brain, the glorious works of art and indus- 
try, the acting and reacting forces, leading 



was called 
an atheist. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 687 

Humanity onward on the path of Historical 
activity. God was everywhere with him ; but 
he opposed the clergy of every nation and He opposed 
denomination, whether Turkish. Jewish, or 
Christian, as fostering hatred, and transform- 
ing the temples into mock-stages, on which 
orators were heard, " who did not care to in- 
struct the people, but rather to excite their ad- 
miration, and to condemn publicly those who 
held different opinions, and to preach only 
what was new, incomprehensible, and most 
delighted the crowd." This produced strife 
and hatred. Faith thus became credulity Faith and 
and prejudice. " And what prejudice ! " ex- P re J udice - 
claims Spinoza, " turning reasonable men 
into brutes ; preventing every one from using 
his free judgment to distinguish truth from 
falsehood." He then concludes this apos- 
trophe with the words, u If they" (meaning 
the Clergy of any sect or denomination) 
" possessed but one spark of the Divine 
light, they would not be so senselessly proud, 
and learn to worship God more wisely; 
and, instead of distinguishing themselves 
by hatred, would foster love towards every 



one." 



The study of these two philosophers, in The study 
whom the thoughts of progressively develop- and^ 6 
ing Humanity were concentrically reflected, Spinoza 
is indispensable to a correct understanding sabieT 11 " 
of the History of the two following centuries. 
A long row of independent thinkers ushered 
in the eighteenth century. Their ideas were 
taken up by politicians, who invented the 



688 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

"Balance^ formula of the " balance of power;" by di- 
dactic writers, who sought the binding, 
moving and vivifying element in God, spirit- 
ually, corresponding to gravitation in matter ; 
materially, blending thus together negation 
and affirmation, mind and matter, first cause 
and final aim, the finite and the infinite. 
Force, engendering an effect, was made the 
study of Humanity. 

The great English Deistic writers, who 
applied the principles of Locke and Spinoza 
to Art, History, Politics and Science, who 
form the connecting links between the great 
English Rebellion and the French Revolu- 
tion, and are the very foundation stones upon 
which the Germans raised their philosophical, 
historical and poetical Pantheon, peopled by 
a host of great reasoners and critics, were : 
shaftes- 1. The Earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713), 
ury ' one of the independent thinkers, so often 
found in the ranks of the English aristocracy. 
The glorious spirit that inspired the Chandos 
on the battle field, never left the nobles of 
England on the subtle fighting-ground of 
advanced thought and free inquiry. To in- 
vestigate, whether the laws of morals are not 
the same as those of beauty, was the task this 
spirited writer set himself. Love of truth, 
as an inborn sense, elevated and purified by 
imagination and enthusiasm, was to be culti- 
vated in man. Shaftesbury's works were a 
revival of the ideas of the Greek Plato, but 
modified by the experience of more than 
2 3 0Q0 years, and translated into practical 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 689 

English. What Shaftesbury began, was con- 
tinued by Montesquieu on the field of History 
and Politics. Shaftesbury asserts that the 
world exists, in all her glory and beauty, in 
eternally contrasting, acting and reacting 
forces, that form a marvellous picture of light 
and shade. Life around us consists of an 
everlasting change of matter. Plants die 
away, to foster with their death the life of 
animals and men ; and animals and men die 
away, to give life to plants in their turn. The 
air that surrounds us, the vapours that rise 
from the water, the meteors that shoot over 
our heads, all follow their laws, and con- 
tribute to the preservation of the whole. 
Such a mind was necessarily antagonistic to 
dogmatism, but his opposition was not satiri- 
cal, but generous. He does not shout with 
laughter at the stupidity and ignorance of 
dogmatists, scholastics and bigots, but only 
smiles with compassionate sorrow, that so 
much moral evil should be rampant in God's 
beautiful creation, which is perfect every- 
where, where man does not defile it with his 
egotistical assumptions. 

Next to Shaftesbury stood Toland (1670 Toland - 
— 1722), who studied at Leyden, at that 
period one of the very best Continental uni- 
versities. He wrote the following works :■ — 
" Abeisidaeinon," " Nazarenus," " Tetrady- 
namus," " Pantheisticon," and the most im- 
portant of all, " Christianity not Myste- 
rious," in 1696. Though this book gave 
great offence, and roused the ire and vitupe- 

2 Y 



690 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

ration of bigots, it was one of the most 
remarkable signs of the times, and fore- 
shadowed a treatment of Christianity which, 
after a lapse of nearly two centuries, will in- 
evitably become general. 
Collins. Collins (1676 — 1729) was deeply learned 

and systematic. His first remarkable work 
appeared in 1707, under the title of "An 
Essay concerning the Use of Reason in Pro- 
positions, the Evidence whereof depends on 
Human Testimony," and in 1713 he pub- 
lished his " Discourse on Free-thinking," in 
which he attacked the abuses of the then 
prevailing and traditionary metaphysics with 
caution and modesty. He further wrote 
' ' Historical and Critical Essays on the 
Thirty-nine Articles." No Historian can 
understand the events of the eighteenth and 
nineteenth centuries without a careful and 
unbiassed study of the writings of this Eng- 
lish master-mind. The whole influential 
school of the French Encyclopaedists, and 
nearly all the German Historians, borrowed 
their modern ideas, and their most convincing 
arguments, from Collins, trying to establish 
the reign of Reason in opposition to blind 
Faith. All that the English free-thinkers ad- 
vanced against dogmas and mystic ceremo- 
nies in Religion may be condensed in the fol- 
lowing lines: — " Religions were everywhere 
at first natural and simple, plain and intel- 
ligible ; myths and fables were added, and 
began to obscure them more and more ; sac- 
rifices, whether real or typical, were intro- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 691 

duced, which had to be paid for ; the priests 
grew wealthy and fat, and the people be- 
came poor and lean." 

Dr. Matthew Tindal (1657—1733) fol- Tindai. 
lowed in the same spirit, and wrote his great 
work, " Christianity as Old as the Creation," 
to prove that there can be but one moral law 
all over the world, " as God acts in con- 
formity to the Reason and Nature of things." 
" The end for which God has given us Rea- 
son is to compare things, and the Relation 
they stand in to each other, and from thence 
to judge of the fitness and unfitness of ac- 
tions." Historians will find TindaPs work 
full of ideas which still engage the thoughts of 
Humanity. " The welfare, or rather safety, 
of the Republic " was the peremptory maxim 
with the Romans. Tindal proclaimed, in 
the spirit of our times, " the good of the 
people to be the supreme law." We cannot 
ignore these writers, for we unconsciously 
speak and act on their principles. Being 
unacquainted with them, we should fail to 
understand the real causes, of which our 
modern historical actions, both in general, 
and in their minutest details, are but the 
natural effects. Historians must carefully 
trace these moral and intellectual move- 
ments in their secret workings, as they are 
the most incontestable proofs of the existence 
of laws in the development of Humanity, 
which have eternally manifested themselves 
in the fluctuating thoughts of mankind. 
Thoughts and ideas produce actions, and 

2 y 2 



692 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

there is not a single idea enunciated by 
the great English writers of this period, that 
has not served as a mighty stimulus to the 
historical deeds of the different European 
nations. 

Woiiaston. Wm. Wollaston (1659—1724), like Jus- 
tin Martyr, Origen, Wickliffe, Huss, Luther, 
John Knox, Savonarola, Chillingworth, and 
Hooker, endeavoured, with many of his con- 
temporary writers, to improve the religious 
feelings of the people. He demands that, 
instead of unintelligible dogmas, the whole 
of our State-organization should be based on 
the triad, u Reason, Truth, and Happiness." 
His celebrated work, which appeared under 
the title of u The Religion of Nature Deline- 
ated," has served, and still serves, reformers 
as a text-book ; and the principles laid down 
in it, manifest themselves in questions that 
agitate our own times. The separation of 
Church and State, and the disinclination of 
the masses in Germany, Italy, France, Bel- 
gium, and England, to leave Education ex- 
clusively in the hands of the clergy, are but 
outgrowths of the intellectual movement 
which took its origin in England. 

Morgan. Morgan (? — 1743) went further and was 
bolder than any of the writers mentioned 
above. The religion of pure reason alone 
was divine with him. He considered Judaism 
the origin of all controversy and unintelligible 
dogmatism. He extols St. Paul, as the first 
freethinker in religious matters, who alone 
preached Christianity in its purity. Dis- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 693 

cussions on " Grace " and u Selection " he 
treated with great contempt. Theological 
dialectical distinctions are in his eyes of no 
use. The salvation of persons elected could 
never be attained by any other means but 
their own individual exertions. 

Mandeville (?— 1733) published, in 1714 Mandeviiie 
a poem under the title of " The Grumbling 
Hive, or Knaves Turned Honest," a satire 
on the social condition of Humanity at large. 
He re-published the same poem, with notes, 
in 1723, under the title of " The Fable of the 
Bees, or Private Vices made Public Benefits ; 
with an Essay on Charity and Charity 
Schools, and a Search into the Nature of 
Society;" to which is added U A Vindica- 
tion of the Book from the Aspersions con- 
tained in a Presentment of the Grand Jury 
of Middlesex." Mandeviiie was specially 
accused of having collected all the false 
notions of Machiavelli, Hobbes, Spinoza and 
Bayle ; and of having openly blasphemed 
and denied the doctrine of the ever-blessed 
Trinity. He was further charged with having 
endeavoured to revive the Arian heresy ; 
with believing in Fate and denying Provi- 
dence; with attempting to undermine the 
order and discipline of the Church; with 
maliciously and falsely decrying the Univer- 
sities, in order to prevent them from instruct- 
ing youth in the Christian religion ; and 
with recommending luxury, avarice, pride, 
and all vices, as necessary to public welfare. 
These accusations, had they been true, would 



694 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

have been very grave; but, in reality, Man- 
deville showed that, in the highly artificial 
society of his time, gross selfishness and un- 
scrupulous egotism prospered ; that knavery 
and flattery could boast of success, whilst 
honesty and straightforwardness did not bear 
out the modern theory of the survival of the 
fittest ; that falsehood, hypocrisy and crime 
ruled supreme, if their votaries could only 
succeed in making money ; that bribery and 
pride, the self-interest of the rich, and the 
contempt and degradation of the poor, went 
hand in hand at elections, in trade, at court, 
in the ministry, and in Parliament. He then 
came to the very natural and practical con- 
clusion, borne out by facts, that crime, 
passion and corruption are necessary and 
wholesome, because they are altogether in- 
separable from those pleasures which the so- 
called civilized and higher classes enjoy. 
Mandeville could not see that these phe- 
nomena are the effects of a disturbed state 
of the acting (intellectual) and restraining 
(moral) forces in man. He saw the dark side 
of society, and not yet inspired by correct 
principles, he assumed the shade in the 
picture to be at the same time the different 
tints of light and the completion of the work 
of art, which, however, consists in a har- 
monious blending together of all tints ; just 
as the perfection of the organisation of society 
is formed by a co-ordination and subordina- 
tion of all the layers of society to one common 
purpose. Mandeville was, of course, mis- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 695 

understood, like so many others, and it is 
the duty of Historians at all times to strive 
to correct such misunderstandings. The 
difficulties arise mainly from words that 
have different meanings, or convey different 
notions to different minds. The word " vice M 
was used by Mandeville in the sense of want 
or deficiency, whilst theologians could only 
think of the eternal evil, the original sin — 
our vulgar animal passions — and hence have 
accused him of corrupting the morals of the 
nation. Now, wants and defects are the 
very causes of industry, commerce, inven- 
tions and discoveries. There is no trade or 
handicraft, no artist or learned man, no 
teacher or preacher, no official or soldier, 
who does not supply us with something that 
we want. All arts and sciences are at work 
to remedy some aesthetical or intellectual 
defect. To do away with vice through the 
knowledge of evil, or want and defect, was 
the great aim of Mandeville. He was thus 
understood in France, and in that country 
the sanguinary destruction of those who imi- 
tated Mandeville's vicious society, whilst 
they complained of libertinism, irreligion, 
blasphemy and corruption, followed on the 
exposure of their mode of living. The Ency- 
clopaedists of France, the free-thinkers and 
critics of Germany, and the political econo- 
mists of England all used Mandeville's deep 
philosophical ideas. 

Thomas Chubb (1679 — 1747) was more Chubb, 
systematic than his predecessors. He may 



696 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

be considered the founder of a regulated 
Rationalism, which is still looked upon as 
very heretical in Universities, Church Con- 
gresses, Assemblies, Synods, Conventicles, 
and pious gatherings. Historians cannot ig- 
nore the fact that this " partner of a tallow- 
chandler" kindled a fiery torch of enlighten- 
ment, that spread light and freedom through 
all the classes of English Society. He studied 
hard, digested what he read, and, above all, 
thought for himself; and by this means be- 
came one of the most distinguished and cor- 
rect reasoners of his age. Sir Joseph Jekyl 
respected him so highly that he offered to 
make him a member of his family, in order 
to constantly enjoy his conversation; but 
not even the offer of a considerable allow- 
ance could induce Chubb to sacrifice his 
independence. He was a far more religious 
man, than all those illogical and unprincipled 
theologians who clamoured against him, as 
they had done against Mandeville. Chubb 
proclaimed, in a truly Christian spirit, " that 
men should follow with all their hearts and 
souls the eternal and unchangeable precepts 
of natural morality." He could not see the 
Trinity in Unity ; he wished to honour the 
Father in asserting His supremacy ; he op- 
posed the immoral doctrine of Predestination ; 
controverted the degrading assumption of 
Original Sin; and contradicted the equally 
pernicious doctrine, that man was naturally 
incapable of doing anything good. These 
and similar statements were enough to make 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 697 

him obnoxious to superstitious sectarians, 
filled with self-conceit and ignorance. Pope, 
the great poet and essayist, said of Chubb's 
Tracts, published in a volume, " that he 
read them through with admiration of the 
writer, though not always with approbation 
of his doctrines." 

By far the most celebrated, wittiest, and Viscount 
most learned writer of England was Viscount broke. 
Bolingbroke (1672 — 1751), the forerunner 
of Vico in Italy, of Voltaire in France, 
and Herder in Germany; the originator of 
the study of History on entirely new prin- 
ciples, which he laid down in his " Letters "Letters on 
on the Study and Use of History," published the §f udy f 
for the first time in 1735. Bolingbroke was History." 
descended from a noble and ancient family, 
well educated, j)ossessed of a vast amount of 
learning, gifted with sarcasm and wit, a 
genial heart, and yet full of ambition ; pas- 
sionate and reflecting ; imaginative and ob- 
serving. He was the very incarnation of the 
spirit of his century, which ended with the 
French Revolution. In his private character Boiing- 
Bolingbroke was neither a pattern of virtue b ™ k a e t 'e 
nor perseverance. He changed his political character. 
predilections according to his interests. One 
day he was a Tory and the next a Whig. He 
fought with all his intellectual powers for 
freedom and progress, abhorred the fetters of 
Feudalism and Dogmatism, which oppressed 
the different nations of Europe, and yet he 
despised simplicity and honesty of life. He 
had no taste for quiet enjoyments ; knew no- 



698 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

tiling of self-control ; scorned virtue, though 
he continually preached it ; insisted upon 
freedom, which he considered a chimera ; 
and advocated justice, which he never granted 
to others. His mind was as unsettled, as the 
whole political, religious, and social condi- 
tion of the period in which he lived. He 
struggled valiantly and bravely for intel- 
lectual and moral progress, but the high 
political and diplomatical position which he 
held, made his influence less general, and 
caused him to be looked upon with sus- 
picion, as a writer who used his pen to 
further personal, instead of popular interests. 
He never intended to enlighten the masses ; 
he wrote his sarcastic and eloquent dia- 
Wroteoniy tribes for the delectation of the nobles, and 
higher often furnished the most terrible weapons 
classes. against the very class, he intended exclusively 
to benefit, at the expense of the industrial 
and working classes. He was the most ori- 
ginal character of the eighteenth century, 
and yet he continually protested that he did 
not affect eccentricity. He was the most 
subversive writer of his times, only surpassed 
in critical power by the more sarcastic Vol- 
taire, and yet he thought " that a due defe- 
rence is to be paid to received opinions, 
and that a due compliance with received 
customs is to be held ; though both the one 
and the other should be, what they often are, 
absurd or ridiculous." And in a truly Jesuitic 
spirit, which pervaded all the layers of so- 
ciety, he quite unconsciously adds, " But this 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 699 

servitude is outward only, and abridges in 
no sort the liberty of private judgment." It 
"was a great gain to Humanity that statesmen 
and public writers, philosophers, poets, and 
Historians should have begun to speak of "the 
liberty of private judgment." The people 
took them at their word, and though we may 
now be compelled, to some extent, to blame 
these promoters of free thought, we cannot 
deny their direct or indirect influences. 
Bolingbroke keenly felt that no study could 
be of greater service in improving the minds 
of the upper classes, than the "study of His- 
tory." He also knew that there were some 
whose motive, in taking up this subject, was 
nothing better than a desire for amusement. 
Others there were who had "the disadvantage 
of becoming a nuisance very often to society, 
in proportion to the progress they made." 
" The former do not improve their reading to 
any good purpose ; the latter pervert it to a 
very bad one, and grow in impertinence as 
they increase in learning. I think I have 
known most of the first kind in England, 
and most of the last in France. v Bolingbroke 
was the first to protest against " storing the 
mind with crude unruminated facts and 
sentences ; " bare memory never can supply 
the want of imagination and judgment. He 
was the first to rob Scaliger, Bochart, Pe- 
tavius, Usher, and even Marsham, of their 
dim halo of authority, and expose the tricks 
of these historical jugglers, asserting that 
they had joined disjointed passages, and used 



700 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

wild fantastical similitudes of sounds to prop 
up their preconceived systems. Long before 
F° r e- Egyptology could be a science, as no hiero- 
Egypt- gtyp QS had yet been deciphered, Bolingbroke 
oiogy. drew the attention of the learned world to 
the antiquity of Egypt, and to the fact that 
Manetho's dynasties had been broken to 
pieces by Eusebius, and only such fragments, 
as had suited his design, had been made use 
of in his work. This was Bolingbroke's great 
crime. In the critical spirit of a true His- 
torian, he at once discovered the weak points 
in our mock-Historians and dogmatists. With 
a few words he unmasked the pompous dig- 
nitaries of learning, and had, of course, the 
whole herd of scholastics and repeaters of 
the same things immediately against him. 
They saw the danger of the study of History, 
and, up to our own days, most effectively 
excluded it from all the Colleges, Educational 
Institutions, and Universities of England, 
Scotland, and Ireland, with the exception of 
some few establishments in which the Eng- 
lish Government (whether Tory or Whig) 
has a special influence. The power of the 
study of History was recognised in France 
for a special religious and national purpose ; 
and in Germany for an exclusively scientific 
aim. Art, industry, and genius are all neces- 
sary to a Historian. Facts have to be col- 
lected with great industry, and what has been 
so procured, must be artistically arranged, 
and the whole work should be inspired by 
the bright powers of a genius capable of 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 701 

grouping and drawing life-like pictures. Art in 
Genius, originality, and splendour of style are Hlst01 T- 
nothing without a regulating, artistic power ; 
and art is nothing, if it has no material to work 
with. Some of our modern English His- 
torians have, unfortunately, played at being 
geniuses; or, as Bolingbroke has it, they 
were either like a blazing meteor, " irregular 
in its course and dangerous in its approaches; 
of no use to any system, and able to destroy 
any;" or they had " experience without 
knowledge of the History of the world," and 
were, in spite of all their technical know- 
ledge, mathematical instruction, and classical 
learning, half-scholars in the science of man- 
kind. "And if they are conversant in History 
without experience, they are worse than ig- 
norant ; they are pedants, always incapable, 
sometimes meddling and presuming." Bol- Genius and 
ingbroke compares two great captains in study " 
History — the courageous Lucullus, who was 
made great by the study of History, and the 
Duke of Marlborough, who probably never 
read Xenophon. The former became a mili- 
tary genius through Historical training, and 
the latter, who triumphed over the veteran 
armies of France, was a born military genius. 
The Roman commander had on his side 
experience, cultivated by study; whilst Marl- 
borough had inborn genius, united with prac- 
tical skill, acquired by hard experience. 
Study does not lessen genius; but genius can 
do without study is the conclusion to which 
the generality of mankind must come from 



702 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

these examples. " But such examples are 
very rare," says Bolingbroke, u and when 
they happen, it will be still true, that they 
would have had fewer blemishes, and would 
have come nearer to the perfection of private 
and public virtue in all the arts of peace and 
achievements of war, if the views of such 
men had been enlarged, and their sentiments 
ennobled, by acquiring that cast of thought 
and the temper of mind, which will grow up, 
and become habitual in every man who 
applies himself early to the study of History, 
as well as to the study of Philosophy, with 
the intention of being wiser and better, with- 
out the affectation of being more learned." 
These wise words were taken up in Germany, 
and became the corner-stone of an entirely 
new educational system. From the middle 
of the last century, History has been the 
most important study in all the German 
Universities, and is recognised as the true 
beginning and end of all genuine education. 
But who are those who most sternly and 
obstinately oppose the study of History in its 
double, though inverted, effects; for ancient 
History presents us with the effects, from 
which we may deduce the probable causes ; 
whilst modern History shows us endless 
causes, from which we may determine pro- 
opponents bable effects? The opponents of History 
of History. are those to whom that study, which they 
have falsified for the last 1879 years, must 
be an eternal reproach. A system of educa- 
tion built up on a false Historical foundation, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 703 

decorated with arbitrary dates and little 
scenes of an extremely mythical and im- 
probable character, and towered over by a 
mighty flagstaff that proclaims this construc- 
tion, the only true and habitable one for the 
happiness and goodness of the people, must 
above all exclude History from its general 
course of instruction. This will, however, 
only last so long as the ecclesiastical banner- 
bearers shall be allowed to wave the flag of 
prejudice and bigotry. Bolingbroke teaches 
us to rise from particular to general know- 
ledge, from single incoherent facts to a higher 
study of the universal causal connection of 
incidents and incidents; he tells us to "fit 
ourselves for the society and business of 
mankind by accustoming our minds to reflect 
and meditate on the characters we find de- 
scribed, and the course of events we find 
related there." His method was naturally Boiing- 
one-sided, that is, negative or critical. He j^S 
spoke against the remnants of feudalism, 
endeavoured to arouse some common feeling 
for higher purposes in the heavy corporations 
of his country, and proclaimed an entirely 
new system of educating even the highest 
in the state. He could only do this by 
destroying the old system of blundering, and 
being contented with what had been done, 
because the world went round without any 
particular or general knowledge of History ; 
what had to happen did happen, and would 
have happened, even though Brown and 
Smith, or Miller and Taylor had known 



704 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

something of History. Let statesmen study- 
History, if they should think it necessary ; 
the people need not know more of it than 
would do them good ; so that they might not 
find fault in comparing the present with the 
past, or with what was being done in other 
countries. Peace of mind is worth far more 
than the doubtful gain, furnished by Histori- 
cal knowledge. Bolingbroke undertook the 
task of disturbing this well-settled peace of 
mind. He ridiculed antiquated ideas and 
pompous authorities wdiich relied on the 
repetition of the assertions of others, far more 
than on their own laborious inquiries. He 
exposed the hollowness of dogmatism, which 
required mysteries to teach men honesty and 
truth ; he was merciless against hypocritical 
writers who palliated with empty dialectics, 
the rotten system of morals ; who had hu- 
mility on their lips and pride in their hearts. 
Bolingbroke, the witty minister of the Crown 
of England, may be condemned as statesman 
or partisan ; he may have been vacillating and 
fickle, an unreliable friend and implacable foe, 
a bad diplomatist, and an indifferent essayist ; 
but he was instrumental in rousing all through 
Europe an unbounded love and spiritual activi- 
ty for the study of History, which, since the 
appearance of his Letters, has never abated. 

III. — The Eighteenth and Nineteenth 

Centuries. 

Historio- Simultaneously with Bolingbroke, in Eng- 
graphy in \ m ^ several Italian scholars devoted them- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 705 

selves to a more scientific treatment of lial 7 
History. Amongst these, Giovanni Battista eighteenth 
Vico (1670—1744), was one of the most j£ d n ^ ne " 
genial, at a period, when Papal authority centuries. 
and a reactionary policy, headed by the 
House of Austria on the one side, and the 
Bourbons at Naples on the other, crushed 
every freer thought in the spirited Italians. 
Vico felt the necessity for a more philoso- yi co . 
phical method in the composition of History, 
and propounded the theory, that there is an 
organic development in the different epochs, 
which can only be understood through a 
correct knowledge of the social and political 
condition of any nation ; the religious condi- 
tion he could not well touch upon. He endea- 
voured to trace evidences of a moral govern- 
ment all over the world, and assumed that 
there is an interdependence between cause 
and effect in the actions of man ; that justice 
and progress are the results of innate forces ; 
and that our intellectual and political life is 
guided by a harmony of feelings which is 
felt throughout the whole of Humanity. His 
fundamental principles, like those of Boling- 
broke, brought new life into the study of 
History, though he often indulged in vagaries 
and arbitrary divisions, in his anxiety to in- 
clude every phenomenon under one of the 
following categories, each of which he sub- vi co 'g 
divided into three parts : categories. 

(a.) Nature, which was either creative 
(poetical), heroic (military), or intellectual 
(philosophical). 

2 z 



706 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

(h.) Manners, or customs, which were either 
religious, or based on principles of honour, 
or duty. 

(c.) Natural right, which was either divine, 
enforced by authority, or human. 

(d.) Forms of government, which were 
either theocratic, aristocratic, or democratic. 

As generally happens with constructors of 
categories, he altogether forgot to take into 
consideration the innumerable intermixtures 
and combinations which have occurred. His 
more philosophical treatment of History led 
to a wholesome elimination of superficial 
collections of fables, dreams, visions, and 
arbitrary assertions ; but he did not exercise 
that influence which his vast erudition and 
deep critical discernment ought to have com- 
manded. The doubt — which Professors Wolf 
and Niebuhr have made a conviction — with 
reference to Homer, and the probability of 
his not having been the author of the " Iliad " 
and the " Odyssee," was already thrown out 
in broad outlines by Vico. Goethe was the 
first to draw attention to the works of Vico, 
and compared him with the genial German 
writer Hamann. 
Muratori. Ludovico Antonio Muratori (1672 — 1750) 
must be considered the most industrious, re- 
liable, and conscientious of Italian Historians. 
He collected immense material, in a liberal 
and critical spirit, though, in assigning causes 
to the various phenomena, he constantly 
erred. The speculative element in the com- 
position of History is dangerous, but we can- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 707 

not altogether do without it. The Italians 
degenerated both quantitatively and quali- 
tatively, in their general treatment of His- 
tory. They had been the first to arouse 
an unparalleled intellectual activity in Hu- 
manity in all the branches of arts and 
sciences, but the blight of Governmental 
over-regulation in spiritual matters which 
allowed no book, no newspaper, no visiting- 
card even, to be printed or circulated, with- 
out the permission of a papal, royal, or ducal 
censor, checked Italy's vitality ; and the re- 
vival of learning, in 1830, was crippled and 
misdirected through oppression. The na- 
tional spirit, that might, if left to itself, have 
normally and progressively developed, in 
seeking a correct adjustment of the balance 
of the forces working in man, was counter- 
acted by a despotic Church and a secret 
police, leading, as a natural reaction, to san- 
guinary revolutions, fomented by fanatical 
conspirators. Force was to be repelled by 
force, and treachery by treachery. Out of 
some 144 special and general Histories, 
which were written from the middle of the 
eighteenth to the middle of the nineteenth 
century, we must mention, as one of the 
most excellent, the " Historical Encyclo- 
paedia," by Cesar e Cantu (1805), in which Cesare 
he treats the Histories of all the different Cantu ' 
nations, during the past 100 years, with 
admirable industry. He was thrown into 
prison for a previous work on the " History 
of Lonibardy, during the Seventeenth Cen- 

2 Z 2 



708 THE SCIENCE OF HLSTOKY. 

tiny," and this may explain the moderate 
spirit in which his grand work was written. 
There is another peculiarity in his compo- 
sitions ; for, whilst Italian authors generally 
either bitterly attack the Church or pass 
it over in silence, Cantu, in spite of his 
Liberalism, professes to be a faithful son of 
Mother Church. He attempted to establish 
harmony between orthodoxy and heterodoxy, 
or religion and science ; and sought to dis- 
cover a balance between morals and intellect, 
which must take place, so soon as religion 
shall be freed from irreligious mysticism and 
dogmatism. 
Historio- Far greater than that of Italy was the 
Siand 11 Historical activity of England. Unhappily, 
during the the practical spirit of enterprise swayed her 
an^nine? ^ rs ^ attempts at general Historiography. The 
teenth f ree fl ow f thought was not stopped by an 
undue governmental interference ; but ' the 
directors of public opinion turned it into an 
exclusively religious channel. Publishers and 
booksellers, with their peculiar sectarian no- 
tions, became the Censors of English Litera- 
ture. Next to them we had public opinion, 
which, in its turn, was guided or misguided by 
a host of influential, often self-constituted, 
Popes. " Freedom of the Press" did, and does 
exist in England more than anywhere else, 
but this freedom is very relative, and must 
not be taken in the literal sense of the word. 
Theological, political and social considera- 
tions interfered with this liberty far more than 
did the official censors in Germany. The 



centuries. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 709 

hollow spectre of fear, lest a book published 
should give offence, and the dread that it 
might run counter to current theological no- 
tions ; has crippled and retarded the general 
education, and the free and independent de- 
velopment of knowledge amongst the masses in 
Great Britain, far more, than police and state 
supervision ever could have done. This did 
not prevent the richer and higher classes 
from printing whatever they thought fit. But 
their literary productions never reached the 
middle and lower layers of society ; and this 
fact must serve to explain a phenomenon 
which, until the year 1870, struck every 
foreigner, namely, the gross ignorance of the 
generality of the English, Welsh, and Irish 
people. There is scarcely a branch of human 
learning in which English writers did not 
take the lead of all other nations, in finding 
out new paths, and yet in History, England 
remained far behind Germany or even France. 
The most independent authors, with very 
few exceptions, still confine their brains, 
voluntarily or involuntarily, in the straight- 
waistcoats of a pedantic and totally unscien- 
tific Theology. The publishers in general T u h bligber 
are too timid. The " Press" has its written The Press. 
conventional and orthodox laws; the " Stage" The Stage * 
tacitly consents very rarely to touch religion 
or politics ; for these topics are reserved to 
divines and their places of worship ; and to 
the representatives of public opinion, whose 
influence principally depends on the money 
which they can command, and the platforms 



710 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

and lecture halls which they have at their dis- 
fhooiJ in P osa l- The schools teach the people,in a lament- 
ably desultory manner, the same disconnected 
classical extracts and mathematical problems 
which formed the staple knowledge of our 
great-grandfathers. The Chronology of Bis- 
hop Usher still rules supreme; History begins 
with the Jews and ends with the Jews ; and 
here and there some faint notions of Greeks 
and Romans are given. In Modern History 
dry dates are committed to memory, without 
reference to the connecting links between 
facts and facts ; and History, as the most 
important and necessary study, is systemati- 
cally neglected from narrow-minded feelings 
of bigotry and superstition. And yet we 
must look to England for all the great models 
of modern History. Some publishers had a 
"Universal " Universal History " compiled by several 
authors, amongst whom were Archibald 
Bower, John Campbell, William Guthrie, 
George George Sale, the celebrated translator of the 
George " Koran," and George Psalmanazar, the 
Psal - famous literary forger. This latter published 

manazar. i . f T °, -. n -^ - 1 -, 

a work on the Island of .Formosa, under 
the rule of the Emperor of Japan (London, 
1705), which, notwithstanding the minute- 
ness of the descriptive details, and a grammar 
of the very language spoken in that island, 
proved to be a clumsy fabrication. John 

Swinton. Swinton, the archaeologist, also assisted in 
the production of the work, together with the 

Goldsmith, honest, but rather dull, Goldsmith, who re- 
ceived the munificent sum of three guineas for 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 711 

the preface. In this publication ancient His- 
tory is well treated, mediaeval superficially, and 
modern very badly. It was a very voluminous 
edition, and was translated into German, and 
published, 1744, at Halle, in seventy-two 
quarto volumes ; but it possessed no higher 
merit, being merely a register of facts. Up 
to our own times such works have continued 
to inundate the literary market. Publishers 
knew too well the influence which the study 
of History might acquire in time, and thought 
it their duty to protect the faith of their 
forefathers. To shape public opinion with 
reference to History, they engaged theolo- 
gians, inoffensive Masters of Arts, and some 
orthodox foreigners to produce cheap and 
worthless compilations. Thus we possess a 
stupendous quantity of utterly valueless 
u Histories," which are simply so many lite- 
rary speculations. Such Historians in gene- 
ral succeeded in promoting obscurantism, by 
means of a universal conspiracy against the 
study of History. Instead of adopting the 
plan of the Germans who very early distin- 
guished between the inspired, or sacred, and 
the Historical, or scientific parts of the Bible, 
and who treated the eternal moral laws con- 
tained in them with due reverence; whiist 
they submitted the other parts to a searching 
and honest criticism; the bigoted Bibliola- 
ters in England, unhappily more bigoted 
than Roman Catholics or even Mahometans, 
treated History altogether, as a heretical 
study, or falsified it, in arranging it artifi- 



712 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

cially to agree with their Bible. They did 
not wish to see the peace of mind of the 
masses disturbed, and lived in the blissful 
conviction that facts not known as false 
must be true. But the intellectual power of 
England's thinkers was not to be entirely 
suppressed. 
William Next to Bolingbroke, the Englishman, 
Eobertson. stood wmiam r OBE rtson, the Scotchman 

(1721 — 1793), who, in character and position, 
was the very opposite of the witty aristocrat, 
politician and diplomatist. Robertson was 
a Scotch Doctor of Theology, a celebrated 
preacher, and one of the most noble-minded 
men, who, on the field of Historical research 
and its philosophical treatment, is one of the 
classics of English Historiography. He never 
freed himself entirely from his peculiar Scotch 
notions, but courageously adopted the most 
advanced views of his time in his " History 
of Charles V." He was no genius, but through 
hard study, perseverance, and industry suc- 
ceeded in mastering his subject, and pro- 
duced a standard work in the endeavour to 
search for the hidden causes of the phenomena 
which he described. Robertson was also 
one of the first Historians who excited the 
cariosity of the learned world with reference 
to ancient India, by his " Historical Disqui- 
sition " concerning that country. 
David His countryman, David Hume (1711 — 

1776), advanced with gigantic strides in the 
realms of thought, inquiry, scepticism and 
criticism. Hume's philosophy and treatment 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 713 

of History still inspire all the great thinkers 
of England, Germany, and France. He was 
a philosopher who did not start with any 
preconceived notions, but was convinced of 
Locke's " tabula rasa" the empty board of 
our mind, which had to be filled in with 
truth on the path of research, through cor- 
rect reasoning. In composing History he 
had only one aim in view, to prove the ex- 
istence of a clear and discernible connection 
between cause and effect in the affairs of 
men. We cannot altogether agree with his 
partiality for the Tories ; but he lived too 
much amongst the shallow French Encyclo- 
paedists, the heedless sceptics, scoffers, sati- 
rists, and epigrammatists of Paris, not to 
be alarmed at their destructive tendencies. 
He was convinced that normal changes were 
to be the outgrowths of gradual reforms, and 
not of artificially hurried subversions. The 
past was to serve the present, and to fore- 
shadow the future. The logic of events was 
to be as strictly recognized, as the logic of 
thoughts. His conservatism was not a stub- 
born party-opinion, which he transferred to 
the pages of History, but the clear conviction 
that neither the wild and bigoted Puritans, 
nor the sneering and bloodthirsty fanatics, 
were the best social reformers. He certainly 
did not fall into the error of so many Histo- 
rians of the nineteenth century, who use 
History merely to serve their party interests. 
He was a Monarchist from deep conviction ; 
for with him order, and a strict concatenation 



714 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

in the relations of incidents, were to be the 

very basis of Historiography. 

Edward High above all the Historians of the 

Gibbon, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries towers 

the gigantic mind of Edward Gibbon (1737 

— 1794), the Shakspeare of Historiography. 

The rage with which he was a r tacked by the 

intolerant and ignorant of all parties ; the 

calumnies heaped upon him, and the distor- 

« The tions to which his master- work, the " History 

History of f ^he Decline and Fall of the Roman 

xnG aJgcIihg 

and Fall Empire " (of which the first volume was 
Roman published in 1776), was exposed ; and, on 
Empire." the other hand, the encomiums which were 
lavished on him ; the enthusiastic greetings 
of Hume, Adam Ferguson, Horace Walpole, 
the Sceptic, and Robertson, the learned Doctor 
of Divinity, all of whom agreed in singing 
his praises; are so many proofs of the immense 
intellectual activity which this unsurpassed 
work produced all over the civilized world. 
France hailed the " Decline and Fall" not 
less than Germany. Emblematically, the 
genial work showed in the bright mirror of 
the past the future that threatened the Con- 
tinent, and especially France, with forcible 
correctness. Gribbon was certainly the first 
to treat Christianity as a natural and his- 
torical phenomenon, and to divest it of its 
mystical and miraculous character. He, 
however, acknowledged the pure, benevolent 
and universal svstem of Ethics in Chris- 
tianity ; and yet was anathematized. But, 
as we have repeatedly asserted, one of the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 715 

most glorious duties of Historiography is to 
dispel false notions with reference to great 
characters. Dr. Zimmerman, with perfect Dootor 
justice, places Gibbon high above Robertson man. 
and Hume. The Germans, to this day, use 
him as the only trustworthy and reliable His- 
torian of the Roman Empire ; and all their 
great Historians have abstained from re- 
writing the History of that period. Who 
was to excel, or even to equal, Gibbon ? u All Gl ^ t ° g n ' 8 a 
the dignity, all the charms of historic style Historian. 
are united in him ; his periods are melody 
itself, and all his thoughts have nerve and 
vigour.' 1 Who could ever attain the acute- 
ness of his penetration into the very mode 
of thinking of the characters whom he de- 
scribes ; the luxuriance of his fancy, that 
never runs wild ; the fertility of his genius 
in seeing the most hidden causes and their 
unavoidable effects ; the elegance of his style, 
that equals not only, but often surpasses, the 
very best models of classical antiquity ; the 
harmony of his terse periods, and the beauty 
of the epithets which he uses to illustrate in 
a few words the character of a hero, nation, 
or epoch. Those who, on the other hand, Hi . s an * a g- 
have urged " that the uniform stateliness of 
his diction imparts to his narrative a degree 
of obscurity, unless he descends to the 
miserable expedient of a note to explain the 
minuter circumstances," prove, by this very 
criticism, that they know absolutely nothing 
of the scientific treatment of History, which 
has to draw in broad outlines connected 



716 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

events, and may relegate to notes those 
minuter incidents, which are so welcome to 
narrow brains, who, incapable of a general 
grasp, use details to hide the connecting links 
between facts, as an easier means to pander 
to the belief in Chance or Providence. In 
Gibbon all the excellent qualities of an Eng- 
lishman, and all the very best capacities of a 
Frenchman, together with the most excellent 
characteristics of a German were united. He 
is truthful, spirited, and methodical. The 
study of his works is indispensable to all who 
wish to write History. 

It is as though in Gibbon, as in Shakes- 
peare with the drama, in Lord Byron with 
lyric poetry, or in Sir Walter Scott with 
novel-writing, History had exhausted itself 
for a long time in England. We can- 
not mention one u Universal Historian " 
worthy of consideration. Those who at- 
tempted to produce an effectual reaction 
against Gibbon's critical and pragmatical 
method, grew on the field of Historiography, 
like mushrooms after a wholesome rain. 
William Win. Mitford (1743 — 1827) and Conop 
cfoiw" 1 ' Thirl wall each wrote a History of Greece ; 
ThM wail, neither quite without merit, but both tedious 
and now antiquated. Of far greater pre- 
tensions, though crowded with insignifi- 
George cant details and incorrect controversies, is 
Grote. George Grote's " History of Greece," in 
twelve volumes, now superseded by the 
. short, yet far more instructive, History of 
Ferguson. Ernst Curtius. Adam Ferguson (1724 — 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 717 

1816) took great pains to give us a correct 
and exhaustive History of the Roman Re- 
public ; but his work is also superseded by 
that of the German Professor, Mommsen. 
The historical tables of John Blair, pub- John Blair, 
lished under the title of " The Chronology 
and History of the World from the Creation 
to 1753, in Fifty-six Tables" (London, 
1756 ; enlarged and brought down to the 
year 1814) are to a certain degree useful, 
and if corrected on the basis of modern 
researches concerning the antiquity of 
Assyria, India, Babylon, China, and Egypt, 
may serve as a model for the tabulating of 
past events. 

Of sj)ecial Histories, we possess about 
seventy-six works of greater or less merit. 
James Moore, in his " Essays read to a Lite- James 
rary Society" (Glasgow, 1750), is superficial 
and less critical and systematic than Boling- 
broke ; he was deservedly placed by Pope 
in the " Dunciad." Joseph Priestley pub- Joseph 
lished " Lectures on History and General Priestle 7- 
Policy" (Birmingham and London, 1788), 
which unsuccessfully attempt to systema- 
tize the study of History on a higher basis. 
Tobias Smollett wrote a worthless continua- Tobias 
tion of David Hume's History, as a pub- Smollett - 
lisher's speculation, and his work was one- 
sidedly criticised by Wm. Tytler (1711 — wmiam 
1792). The best, or at least the most de- Tjtler ' 
tailed, History of England was published by 
John Lingard (1769 — 1851), under the title j tm 
of "A History of England from the First Lin s ard - 



718 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Invasion by the Romans " (London, 1823 — 
1831 ; fourteen volumes, 8vo). The draw- 
back of this work is its biassed ecclesiastical 
spirit ; Church and State are everything to 
the author. He belongs to those Historians 
who cannot divest themselves of precon- 
ceived prejudices ; and see facts and their 
motives, incidents and their sequences, only 
in the reflected light of their own subjec- 
sir James tivity. Sir James Mackintosh (1765 — 1832) 
tosh. " unhappily did not finish his History of 
England, which, if completed, would have 
undoubtedly been a most valuable work, 
treating the History of England from a 
higher and more impartial point of view. 
Lord Lord Macaulay, in his " Critical and His- 
Macauiay. ^ 0T [ ca \ Essays," has given us a correct, 
though very partial, estimate of the accom- 
plished talents of this writer. Consciously 
or unconsciously, Lord Macaulay reveals, in 
a short sentence, all the faults of English 
Historiography. In referring to Sir James 
Mackintosh's " History of the Revolution 
in England, 1688/' and the " History of 
James I.," by Mr. Fox, both of which 
works were published posthumously, he 
says: " The authors belonged to the same 
political party, and held the same opinions 
concerning the merits and defects of the 
English Constitution, and concerning most 
of the prominent characters and events of 
English History." This assertion at once 
stamps both as incapable of writing History 
in a scientific spirit. " Fox wrote debates 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 719 

and Mackintosh spoke essays." But neither 
debaters nor essayists, in spite of their 
having written, spoken, acted, and lived 
History, are Historians. On the contrary, 
individuals and nations that act History, 
generally lack that power of objective con- 
templation which alone characterizes a true 
Historian. The rhetorical declaimer, the 
reviewer, the journalist, the partisan, the 
sectarian, is never a Historian, and least of 
all, when he attempts to write at a period of 
agitation, of mental and political excitement, 
or religious and social convulsion. We must 
constantly bear this in mind, as otherwise we 
should allow ourselves to be hopelessly con- 
fused. Sir James Mackintosh was arraigned 
by Macaulay u before posterity as a traitor 
to his opinions." Traitor to what opinions ? 
■ — to those which events had changed and 
differently moulded ? There is neither His- 
torical justice nor impartiality in this accusa- 
tion, which comes from a writer who excused 
the French Revolution in principle, and yet 
felt obliged to condemn its excesses. Parti- 
sans are necessary, but we must always look 
upon them as such, and this Lord Macaulay 
rarely did, whenever he touched upon reli- 
gious or political matters. So far as style The style 
is concerned, we cannot bestow too much ™ Lor ? 

> • „ Macaulay. 

praise on Lord Macaulay, who, tor his 
work, " The History of England from the 
Accession of James II. " (London, 1849), 
has been deservedly called the modern 
English Tacitus. One passage may serve 



720 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

to illustrate how well merited this praise 
is. 

He describes the moral, political and 
social character of England at the time, when 
the political power of the Anglican hierarchy 
was in its zenith, which was precisely the 
period during which " national virtue was at 
the lowest ebb." 
a sped- " Scarcely any rank or profession escaped 
Macauiay's the infection of the prevailing immorality ; 
descriptive ]} U £ those persons who made politics their 
business were perhaps the most corrupt part 
of the corrupt society. For they were ex- 
posed not only to the same noxious influences 
which affected the nation generally, but also 
to a taint of a peculiar and of a most malig- 
nant kind. Their character had been formed 
amicfst frequent and violent revolutions and 
counter-revolutions. In the course of a few 
years they had seen the ecclesiastical and 
civil polity of their country repeatedly 
changed. They had seen an Episcopal 
Church persecuting Puritans, a Puritan 
Church persecuting Episcopalians, and an 
Episcopal Church persecuting Puritans again. 
They had seen hereditary monarchy abol- 
ished and restored. They had seen the 
Long Parliament thrice supreme in the State, 
and thrice dissolved amidst the curses and 
laughter of millions. They had seen a new 
dynasty rapidly rising to the height of power 
and glory, and then on a sudden hurled 
down from the chair of State without a 
struggle. They had seen a new representa- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 721 

five system devised, tried, and abandoned. 
They had seen a new House of Lords created 
and scattered. They had seen great masses 
of property violently transferred from Cava- 
liers to Roundheads, and from Roundheads 
back to Cavaliers. During these events no 
man could be a stirring and thriving poli- 
tician who was not prepared to change with 
every change of fortune. It was only in 
retirement that any person could long keep 
the character either of a steady Royalist or 
of a steady Republican. One who/in such 
an age, is determined to attain civil greatness 
must renounce all thought of consistency. 
Instead of affecting immutability in the midst 
of endless mutation, he must be always on 
the watch for the indications of a coming 
reaction. He must seize the exact moment 
for deserting a falling cause. Having gone 
all lengths with a faction while it was upper- 
most, he must suddenly extricate himself 
from it when its difficulties begin, must assail 
it, must persecute it, must enter on a new 
career of power and prosperity in company 
of new associates. His situation naturally 
developed in him, to the highest degree, a 
peculiar class of abilities and a peculiar class 
of vices. He becomes quick of observation 
and fertile of resource. He catches without 
effort the tone of any sect or party with 
which he chances to mingle. He discerns 
the signs of the times with a sagacity which 
to the multitude appears miraculous — with a 
sagacity resembling that with which a veteran 

3 A 



722 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

police officer pursues the faintest indications 
of crime, or with which a Mohawk warrior 
follows a track through the woods. But we 
shall seldom find in a statesman so trained 
integrity, constancy — any of the virtues of 
the noble family of Truth. He has no faith 
in any doctrine, no zeal for any cause. He 
has seen so many old institutions swept away, 
that he has no reverence for prescriptions. 
He has seen so many new institutions, from 
which much had been expected, produce 
mere disappointment, that he has no hope of 
improvement. He sneers alike at those who 
are anxious to preserve and at those who are 
eager to reform. There is nothing in the 
State which he could not, without scruple or 
a blush, join in defending or in destroying." 
Lord Never have the qualities required in a 

dScri'tion Historian been so clearly defined as in this 
applied to passage of Macaulay's " History of England," 
History. *£ ^ ^ e applied in an inverted sense. What 
spoils a partisan is precisely what is needed 
in a Historian. He must be neither a Royal- 
ist nor a Republican. He must belong to no 
sect, no age, no nation. He must possess 
integrity, constancy, and " all the virtues of 
the noble family of Truth." He must have 
no faith in one particular religious system, 
but find in all the connecting links leading 
to virtue. He must have no one-sided zeal 
for a special cause, but treat every cause 
with the same impartial spirit of inquiry, 
and be just to all. He must be able to 
stand above his own and other ages; and 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 723 

such Historians are as rare in England, as 
they are in France. Politics either enervate 
them or make them blind captives to one 
party. We do not mean to convey that in 
order to produce good Historians party-strife 
and conflict of thoughts should cease ; this 
can never be the case so long as human 
beings enact History ; but the scientific His- 
torian must train himself to such a degree 
of independence of opinion that he may be 
strictly just to friend and foe. Now, not- 
withstanding his unsurpassed qualities, Ma- 
caulay could only see one side of all ques- 
tions — undoubtedly the brighter, the liberal 
side — but he was, if an English Tacitus, 
above all a Roman Whig-writer, and even 
condemned those Whigs who had not kept to 
all the notions of a fanatic Whig. In his 
" Essays''* on Machiavelli, Horace Walpole, Lord 
Lord Bacon, Von Ranke, and Warren Hast- v!^ &7 ' s 
mgs, he has compressed an amount of intel- 
lectual gold, large enough to satisfy the most 
eager mind. Charles James Fox (1748 — Charles 
1806) was a Whig politician and partisan, but ame£ 
not a Historian ; and James Macpherson James 
(1738 — 1796) was an unrelenting and violent JJ^ pher " 
Tory ; not an English Tacitus, but certainly 
a Roman patrician translated into English. A 
Swiss, John Louis De Lolme (1745 — 1807) John De 
wrote the very best work on ' k The Constitu- olme ' 
tion of England, or an Account of the English 
Government : in which it is compared both 
with the Republican form of Government 
and the other Monarchies of Europe." This 

I3a2 



724 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

work serves more effectually than would 
the perusal of all the Parliamentary Blue 
Books, to impart a thorough knowledge of 
the English Constitution. Next in excel- 
Haiiam. lcnce to Gibbon stands Henry Hallam 
(1778 — 1859), one of the greatest Historians 
of the world. Whether we consider his first, 
and perhaps most important, work, " View 
of the State of Europe during the Middle 
Ages" (London, 1818); or " The Constitu- 
tional History of England from the Accession 
of Henry VII. to the Death of George II. 
(London, 1827); or his " Introduction to the 
Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Six- 
teenth, and Seventeenth Centuries" (London, 
1848); we find that they all are the produc- 
tions of a model Historical writer. Hallam 
has not the same power and polish of lan- 
guage which Macaulay possessed, but he sur- 
passes him in that imperturbable quietness 
of mind and lofty elevation of judgment 
which make the true Historian. Greek was 
his favourite study ; his mighty genius found 
in Greek Literature that balance which en- 
abled him to be just to friend and foe, and 
to look upon facts from the sublime heights 
of an unbiassed mind. He is often too 
detailed for non-professional readers, but 
is always master of his subject. On every 
page of his works " we are struck with the 
enormous industry and the conscientiousness 
of the writer, which in union with his saga- 
city of thought and pith of composition, 
have rendered every work produced by him 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 725 

standard of its kind." Great as is his fame 
in England, he was far more appreciated in 
Germany, where his deep sympathy with 
everything refined, beautiful and just was 
warmly praised. Hallam teaches us, not in- 
directly, but directly, how to write the His- 
tory of a certain period, how to avoid the com- 
position of dry annals, and how to aim in a 
spirit of freedom u at a just outline rather than 
a miniature, and to suppress all events that 
do not appear essentially concatenated with 
others." There is no better writer on the 
feudal system, and he describes the growth 
of ecclesiastical power during the Middle 
Ages with truthful impartiality. 

We pass over the Memoir writers and 
Biographers, like Wraxall, Walpole, or the 
genial, though one-sided, Edmund Burke, 
with his " Inflexions on the Revolution of 
France " (London, 1790), and will mention 
a few Historians of our own times. Those 
students who may wish to make themselves 
acquainted with the spirit of the three prin- 
cipal civilized European nations must study: 

1. " The Life of Jesus," by Dr. Strauss, Dr. 
the German. Strauss. 

2. " The Life of Jesus," by Kenan, the Renan. 
Frenchman. 

3. " The Life of Jesus" (Ecce Homo), by Professor 
Professor Seeley, the Englishman. Seeiey. 

Nothing could be more characteristic of 
the Historical tendencies and methods of the 
three nations, than their different conception 
and treatment of this most important sub- 



726 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

ject. The German, Dr. Strauss, is learned, 
conscientious, systematic, full of veneration, 
and yet unflinchingly truthful, without pre- 
dilection, bias or prejudice. He is the true 
Historian. The French Renan is learned, 
but his learning is not reliable ; his imagina- 
tion outruns his criticism, and his criticism 
loses itself in romantic dreams. He is far 
more bent on destroying an idol, than on 
discovering to what extent it had in time 
become an entity, to dissolve which will 
need more than the superficial pen-strokes of 
a witty Frenchman. The English Professor 
Seeley is grave, but has neither the learning 
nor the courage of Dr. Strauss, nor the 
sprightliness nor the imagination of Kenan. 
He has, however, his inherited predilections, 
which are apparently shaken by his studies, 
and the intellectual atmosphere of the nine- 
teenth century. He has heard of Dr. Strauss 
and Renan, and wishes to free his soul from 
all doubts by arguing himself out of doubt ; 
and yet of the three books, this one, written 
with apparent faith, is the most dangerous. 
It must necessarily lead to scepticism, be- 
cause the positive assertions are made so 
timidly, that one sees the trembling writer 
afraid to touch his subject, lest it might crum- 
ble into dust under his own hands. All the 
modern Historians of England are more or less 
fettered by the conventionalism of the past, 
though an improvement has lately taken place 
through writers like Buckle, Lecky, Green, 
and the author of " Supernatural Religion." 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 727 

Of these, the first wrote a theory of His- Buckie. 
tory on the principles of Herder and Kant, 
recognising only intellect as the basis of 
civilization and progress. Mr. Lecky, in his Lecky. 
" History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit 
of Rationalism in Europe" (London, 1865), 
has depicted with a masterly hand the gradual 
victory of common sense over bigotry and 
superstition. Mr. J. R. Green, in " A Short Green. 
History of the English People " (London, 
1876), has shown how interesting even Spe- 
cial History may become in the hands of an 
artist. His style and mode of treatment 
serve to show how General History ought to 
be written for the instruction of the people. 

The time for such half-sentimental and 
half-learned state-paper compilers and copy- 
ists as Miss Strickland, Mrs. Markham, Mrs. 
A. C. Green, and Mr. Anthony Froude is 
quickly passing away. Some of these have 
endeavoured to give a different direction to 
public opinion with reference to certain His- 
torical characters of the past, but they either 
write for publishers, or, without the slightest 
philosophical talent, delight in paradoxes, 
merely to force themselves on the notice of 
the public. 

We must mention two other famous Eng- 
lish Historical writers — Sir Walter Scott and 
Thomas Carlyle. Both are originals, both 
are genial master-minds, both attempted to 
write History, both turned their attention to 
France, and both failed in their task, demon- 
strating the fact that too fertile an imagina- 



728 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

tion, a superabundance of sentiment and 
nervous feeling, are not the best qualities in 
Sir Waiter a Historian. Sir Walter Scott, the unsur- 
Scott. passed novel writer, composed the " Life of 
Napoleon" from a partial and superficial 
point of view ; and his "History of Scotland,'' 
which was published in " Lardner's Encyclo- 
Thomas psedia," is equally faulty. Mr. Thomas Car- 
Cariyie. lyle, on the other hand, who must be 
considered the greatest essay writer of the 
world, and who made England thoroughly 
acquainted with the lofty spirit of Ger- 
many's mighty thinkers, also wrote Histo- 
ries — " The French Revolution " and " Fre- 
derick the Great." In both, the geniality 
of the writer, his brilliant style, the thou- 
sand and one electric sparks of his restless 
intellect, must delight the reader. But His- 
tory requires a cooler heart, less imagina- 
tion, and a style in which " cloud vapours 
with rainbows painted on them " must not 
occur. Carlyle has broken through a mass 
of inveterate prejudices, and has widened 
the narrow views of our Scotch and English 
countrymen. He stands on the " bold and 
enormous cubical rock " of fame, a literary 
Hercules, who cleared the Augean stable of 
superstition, in directing the stream of com- 
mon sense to flow through our modern Lite- 
rature. 

In Politics, Commerce, Industry, Inven- 
tions, and progressive social development, 
England, and England alone, is the country 
in which morals and intellect, stability and 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 729 

progress, monarchy and democracy, con- 
servatism and liberalism, are, if not per- 
fectly, at all events best, balanced ; and this 
is the cause of her standing at the head of our 
modern civilization in practical reality, whilst 
France stands foremost in doctrinal ideality, 
and Germany strives to combine practical 
realism with doctrinal idealism, at least on 
the vast fields of Historiography. 

The mighty intellectual current which Hiatorio- 
originated with the political and religious l^nce m 
movement of England's free-thinkers and d . urin s the 
Reformers very soon reached France, and and ^ e . 
produced there a sanguinary disturbance, in teenth . 
accordance with the national character of the 
masses. Three thinkers took the lead during 
the eighteenth century — Montesquieu, Vol- 
taire and Rousseau. 

1. Montesquieu (1689 — 1755) concentra- Montes- 
ted in himself the most brilliant qualities <imeu - 
of a French nobleman and jurist, and all 
the stern virtues of an English gentleman. 
Law, and respect for law, did not exist in 
France. For those, whose duty it was to 
administer the law, were unquestionably the 
most lawless body that had ever existed in 
a nation. Montesquieu, in the style of Vol- 
taire, used cutting satire, to expose to ridi- 
cule the despotic Government of France, 
which resembled much more that of an 
ancient Persian autocrat than that of an 
enlightened European king. His ' 6 Lettres 
Persanes " (Persian Letters, 1721) were Persian 
written for the purpose of showing the utter Letters, 



730 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 



Consider- 
ations on 
the causes 
of the 
greatness 
and decline 
of the 
Romans. 
Spirit of 
Laws. 



hollowness of the French administration, 
and the tyranny which everyone felt, but 
which no one dared to speak of. The blind 
intolerance of the ecclesiastical dignitaries ; 
the gross ignorance of priests and monks ; 
the shallow dialectical uselessness of the pre- 
sumptuous savants ; the base flattery of the 
courtiers ; the licentiousness and immorality 
of the upper, the indolence and stupidity 
of the middle and lower classes ; and the 
entirely mistaken politico-economical prin- 
ciples that swayed financiers, officials, land- 
owners, farmers, and serfs, were violently 
attacked under the pretence of criticising 
Eastern institutions. The aim of the writer 
was, however, thoroughly understood by the 
people, and produced an effect, scarcely sur- 
passed by that which followed his two other 
celebrated works: " Considerations sur les 
Causes de la Grandeur des Romains et de 
leur Decadence " (Considerations of the 
Causes of the Greatness and Decline of the 
Romans, 1734), which was undoubtedly the 
prototype in outline of what Gibbon worked 
out in masterly details; and his " De 
1' Esprit des Lois" (On the Spirit of Laws, 
1749). Both these works were written in 
a style entirely different from that of the 
' ' Persian Letters.' ' The light-hearted French- 
man had seen and studied England, and 
could not help admiring the love of the Eng- 
lish people for law and order. He changed 
the exclusively negative and destructive cri- 
ticism, so characteristic of Voltaire, for a 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 731 

more positive and reconstructive system, and 
hoped to see France built up, like England, 
on the pillars of pure morals, an influential 
aristocracy, wealthy commoners, and, above 
all, on self-government, with which he made 
the people on the Continent acquainted for 
the first time, as the very best means of coun- 
teracting violent Commotions in any State. 
Montesquieu opposed Jacques Benigne Bos- Bossuet. 
suet (1627 — 1704), who advocated mistaken 
theories with an eloquence and talent worthy 
of a better cause. Whilst Bossuet falsified 
History in his " Discours sur l'Histoire Uni- 
verselle, jusqu'a PEnrpire de Charles Magne " 
(Essay on Universal History down to the Bosuset's 
Reign of Charlemagne), reducing every- *j ss . a 7 on 
thing to theological principles, and resisting History. 
a freer religious movement in France with 
all his power; Montesquieu understood the 
signs of the times, and in a truly prophetic, 
that is, historical, spirit, held up the once 
mighty Romans, with their patriotism and 
independence, as an example to his com- 
patriots, and warningly pointed out the 
causes that enervated, and finally destroyed, 
the masters of the world. Like Boling- Montes- 
broke, he gave History a different tendency, quieu's 
spreading through it a light which kindled a writing 7 " 1 
desire for an entirely new order of things in History. 
all those who suffered under ecclesiastical 
and worldly tyranny, based on the jDrin- 
ciples of intolerance and arbitrariness. Not 
fanciful constitutional theories, but the very 
nature of man, was to be taken as the foun- 



732 THE SCl^CE OF HISTORY. 

dation of our social and political organiza- 
tion. In his later works Montesquieu's 
style was free from all mockery and satire, 
and in its earnestness and dignity may serve 
as a model for any historical or political 
writer. In France, England, and Germany, 
his works were looked upon by the better 
classes as the very " Grospel " of a new poli- 
tical system. 

Voltaire. 2. Voltaire (Franc, ois Marie Arouet de, 
1694 — 1778) was the prophet, apostle, teacher 
and idol of a court and people which produced 
a Louis XIV., a Louis XV, with the signifi- 
cant sayings, "I am the State" (P£tat c'est 
moi), or "after us the deluge" (apres nous 
le deluge) ; and, on the other hand, fanatics 
like Robespierre or Marat, bloodthirsty 
tigers in human form. The hackneyed 

How to phrases concerning Voltaire, which accuse 

Voltaire. n ^ m °^ navm o undermined State and religion 
with his satire, genial versatility, and reck- 
less contempt for everything existing, are 
wholly unworthy of modern Historians. The 
cause of any faults we may find in Voltaire, 
must not be sought for in himself, for he was 
merely the concentrated intellectual represen- 
tative of his own nation, and the incarnation 
of the spirit of his times. We must rather 
turn to the very nation whose offspring he 
was, and to the times which found so powerful 
an apostle in him. If we study and judge 
Voltaire from this point of view, we shall not 
one-sidedly condemn the representative indi- 
vidual, but the whole social, political, and, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 733 

above all, religious system that produced 
him, and required such a writer to lash it 
into an activity for reform. Had there been 
no intolerant priests, bigoted idlers, tyrants, 
ignorant teachers of inherited falsehoods, 
miracle-mongers, traders in sanctimonious 
lies, debauched villains, hypocritical monks, 
quarrelling Jesuits and Jansenists, there 
would have been no Voltaire to attack stu- 
pidity, pride, indolence, and a distortion of 
all the principles of right and justice, of 
virtue and truth. Voltaire waged a fierce 
war against the existing religious systems; 
but these systems were not the true pro- 
moters of morals ; but rather, by their mystic 
teachings, lifeless and mechanical dogma- 
tism, pernicious ascetism, false doctrines and 
contradictory assertions, proved the very 
opponents of genuine morals, which should 
form the essence of all religions. Voltaire Hisfunda- 
never in one single line of his vast literary m< r ntal . 

• -i i i • J principles. 

and Historical works speaks against the most 
sacred principles of society — honesty, reason, 
and common sense ! His influence in France, 
Germany and England was due to his clear 
and calculating intellect, the sharpness of his 
wit, and his magnificent style. He devoted 
all his powers to denouncing the false doc- 
trines, according to which Church and State 
ruled, oppressed, insulted and beggared the 
people on the Continent. Only a Titanic spirit 
like his, was able to counteract the growing 
immorality of the State ; the rampant hypo- 
crisy of the Church ; the revolting cant of 



734 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

priests; the foolish pretensions of the Scholas- 
tics and Jesuits ; and the sentimental distor- 
ts private tions of the Jansenists. His private character 
character ma y have been tainted by the vices of his 
spirit. age, but his spirit soared high above the 
pettiness of his contemporaries. A nervous 
sensitiveness often made him appear in a 
false light. He was implacable against those 
who opposed him, as he saw in them the 
enemies of progress, and the allies of all that 
was contemptible in the past and present. 
His Essay His " Essai sur FHistoire G^nerale, et sur 

History eral * es Mceurs et FEsprit des Nations depuis 
Charlemagne " (Essay on General History, 
and the Customs and the Spirit of Nations 
from the times of Charlemagne, 1754) ; his 

History of History of Charles XII. (of Sweden) ; and, 

xil 6S above all, his Philosophical Letters, written 
in England under the influence of Locke, 
Bolingbroke, Tindal, Collins, and Toland — 
which were publicly burned by the hangman 
at Paris — produced an unparalleled effect 
on the intellectual minds of Europe. He 
was persecuted by the despicable Cardinal 
Fleury, who felt himself attacked in every 
line ; just as, at a later period, Madame de 
Stael was condemned for her letters u On 
Germany," under the military despotism of 

Voltaire the first Napoleon. Voltaire broke with the 

broke with , • j m j_ m tt l l 

the past. P as t in every direction. He openly renounced 
Christianity as taught by ignorant priests; 
and sneered and laughed at the mechanical, 
tasteless, insolent, and, above all, useless 
teachings of the pedants in schools and 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 735 

Universities. He was the great abhorrer of 
all sham and tyranny. That such a character 
should have found a protector and friend in 
Frederick the Great, the King of Prussia, Frederick 
honours the mighty king, who did not look the Great 
upon genius, truthfulness and satire as dan- Voltaire, 
gerous foes ; but, on the contrary, welcomed 
them as worthy helpmates to enlighten, purify 
and improve the sunken moral and intellectual 
state of Europe. That Voltaire was used by 
low scoffers and sarcastic critics ; that he 
was misunderstood, and made a tool in the 
hands of headless revolutionaries in France, 
was not his fault, but the unpardonable crime 
of aristocrats, bureaucrats, priests, monks 
and bigots, who, instead of studying his 
writings and taking their contents to heart, 
considered it their duty to abuse, vilify and 
curse them. 

3. Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712 — 1778), Rousseau. 
whom we have mentioned in treating 1 of 
Augustine (see page 504), was the last of a 
triad which brought about an entire change 
in the History of the Continent. Rousseau 
was no Historian, but he played a most con- 
spicuous part in History. What Montes- 
quieu attempted in politics, and Voltaire 
undertook in religious matters, Rousseau 
endeavoured to accomplish on social ground. 
His " Contrat Social" was a fantastic chi- T ^ e 
mera ; but chimeras nave a greater charm social." 
for the ignorant, than anything based on 
experience and a recognition of what is pos- 
sible and practical. In Religion and Poli- 



736 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

tics, mere words mean nothing ; theories and 
systems must be reduced to first causes, if 
they are to serve Humanity in the explana- 
tion of phenomena. Rousseau, because he 
was without any historical training, ignored 
the past, and became one of those dangerous 
idealists who, in building up a system of 
welfare for Humanity out of their "own 
inner consciousness," mislead men into long- 
ing for the impossible and altogether neg- 
Sociaiism lecting the possible. Socialism, with all its 
initiated by pernicious and dreamy cravings, took its 

Eousseau. r , . . J & > _ . 

origin m Rousseau s writings, and his ideas 
are still the most powerful agents in the 
modern attempts to reconstruct society on 
ideal principles. Rousseau knew nothing of 
the nature of man, and his conception of a 
human being was entirely mistaken. He 
started with false assumptions, and produced 
the same effect as the mediaeval priests 
with their equally false vagaries, concerning 
" grace," " beatification," or il regenera- 
tion," engendering sanguinary riots and re- 
ligious and political madness. 
The The Historical movement in France during 

movement ^he l^ter part of the eighteenth century was 
in France, intellectual as well as revolutionary. What 
Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau wished 
to see, was a reform which, based on gradual 
progressive improvements, promoted by 
Government, would have slowly led the 
nation to freedom and happiness. All this 
was prevented by kings and priests — the 
centralised force of a depraved, venal and 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 737 

corrupt bureaucracy, and a vain, licentious 
aristocracy. Political economists abounded. 
Everyone discussed the means by which to 
enrich the State. Turgot may be said to Turgot. 
have been the first to really bring poli- 
tical economy into a scientific system.; he 
based his studies on the political organiza- 
tion of England, but could not understand 
the fundamental principle upon which Eng- 
land's growing wealth rested, namely, " self- 
government." Moreri and Bayle, with their 
historical and biographical Dictionaries, and 
Diderot, Holbach, Helvetius, Grimm, Ray- 
nal, D'Alembert, Marmontel, and Condor- 
cet, with their Encyclopaedia, were generally The 
accused of attempting to annihilate every ^f 8 f s °" 
religion, and contributed very largely to 
the spread of the idea that matter only de- 
served our attention, and that mind was no 
factor to be taken into account in treating 
of Humanity. The works of these authors 
can only be understood, if they are studied 
after a thorough acquaintance with the deis- 
tic writers of England. In a truly French 
spirit, all was exaggerated. Martyrs were 
looked down upon, as individuals that ex- 
pected death, whilst enthusiasts were glori- 
fied, because they rushed into death. A 
feverish longing for a speedy change in poli- 
tical and social relations burst asunder all 
the ties of society. The religiously blind 
were suddenly to see, and the politically deaf 
and dumb to hear and to speak. History 
in such an intellectual atmosphere could not 

3 B 



738 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

prosper. Passion, national pride, and wild 
fanaticism ruled supreme. When nations 
sing hymns, whether pious or revolutionary, 
Klio, the sober muse of History, retires, and 
awaits a less emotional moment to make her 
voice heard. 

Miiiot. Claude Francois Xavier Millot (1726 — 

1785), though a priest, furnished in his 
Historical Manuals the very weapons with 
which to attack the clergy ; and Louis de 

Samson. g AMS0N (1732—1809) enriched Historical 
Literature with a register of the crimes of 
the Kings of France, and of the Popes of 
Rome ; but this work is only noteworthy, as 
a curious example of the degree of raging 
partiality which Historians are capable of 
reaching at periods of general excitement 
and bewilderment. 

Though some of the Historical writers of 
the French Revolution ought to be studied, 
it is far more advisable to read the Historians 
of a later epoch, who could look upon the 
terrible period of France's political paroxysm 
of revolutionary fever with greater calmness. 

Lacreteiie. Charles Joseph de Lacretelle (1763 — 1855), 
an eye-witness of not less than eight grand 
Revolutions,* has treated the different His- 
torical commotions of his country with praise- 
worthy impartiality. Superior to him in style 

Mignet. and lofty conception is Francois Mignet, 
whose " History of the French Revolution " 

* 1. The foundation of a Constitutional Monarchy. 2. The 
Republic. 3. The Consulate. 4. The Empire. 5. The Restoration. 
6. The July Revolution. 7. The Revolution of 1348. 8. The 
"Coupd'Etat." 



THE SCIENCE OP HISTORY. 739 

is unsurpassed in the literature of his coun- 
try. Louis Adolphe Thiers was, like Lord Thiers - 
Macaulay, a partisan, but possessed such 
great and genial qualities that he stands 
high above the ordinary writers of his age. 
In perfect accordance with the principle of 
causation, he argued that monsters, like 
Robespierre and Marat, were necessary in- 
struments to raise France to the position of 
the first power in Europe. Thiers certainly 
wrote an apotheosis of the Republic to prove 
the necessity of the Empire which followed, 
and to teach the French that the only pos- 
sible government was that, at the head of 
which he at last found himself as President, 
namely, a Republic, which had begun its 
career with the slaughter of more than a 
million of human beings. With his Histo- 
rical works Thiers paved the way for a return 
to a more simple, and less corrupt, form of 
government in France. His masterly " His- 
tory of the Empire," describing the glorious 
victories, the waste of national treasure and 
human life, all ending in the melancholy 
exile, on a distant island in the Atlantic 
Ocean, of the originator, instigator, and 
principal actor in this anachronistic Imperial 
Roman tragedy, must have opened the eyes 
of all vain-glorious political comedians. His 
History of " the Consulate" and "the Em- 
pire," if properly read and studied, should 
have prevented the last spurious repetition of 
the same Historical performance. It is deeply 
to be regretted that the French will neither 

3 b 2 



740 THE SCIENCE OF HISTOEY. 

study nor write History from an objective, 
purely scientific, point of view. Like the 
Romans, who would not understand, that 
there could be nations who did not deem it 
an honour to be Romans ; the French cannot 
see that there are cities outside Paris, or 
human beings that have the right to defend 
themselves victoriously, especially if wan- 
tonly attacked. The French have produced 
mighty thinkers and splendid rhetorical His- 

Lamartine. torians, like Lamartine, the poet, who in his 
" Histoire des Girondins " (History of the 
Girondists), endeavoured to throw a halo of 
sanctity round the moderate French Revolu- 

Micheiet. tionaries; Michelet, a dreamy idealist, who 
delighted in fantastic vagaries ; and Louis 

Louis Blanc, a great Historical mind, who has fur- 

Bianc. nished us with a model composition, in con- 
ciseness of style and accuracy of research, in 
his " Histoire de Dix Ans " (History of Ten 
Years), but who colours everything he writes 
with his Communistic notions. One of the 
most important works of modern French 
Historiography, without which a correct ap- 
preciation of the Historical development of 
• France in our times is scarcely possible, is 
the " Histoire Generale et Raisonn^e de la 
Diplomatic francaise " (Paris, 1833. See 
" Westminster Review," vol. xxvii. p. 233). 
A general and critical History of French 

Fiassan. diplomacy, by Gaetan de Flassan. Another 
work, which contains an admirable collection 
of documents, materials, State-papers, and 

Mkhaud. memoirs, has been edited by M. Michaud. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 741 

We may conclude the Historiography of 
France with the celebrated Francois Pierre 
Guillauroe Guizot, who was literally raised Guizo *. 
from the Historical Lecture Hall to the 
highest State dignities in France ; as an 
example of how amply talent, study and 
industry on the field of literature are re- 
warded in a country that is always alive to 
the charms of intellect, wit and rhetorical 
power. Guizot, in all his writings, was always Guizot 
the exclusive Frenchman, and could never Suavely 
understand the mighty spirit of the Teutonic the 
nations. In his u History of the English m r a e n. c 
Revolution," however, he raised himself to 
the position of an impartial judge, and is 
even more trustworthy than many an English 
writer ; for he stands high above party-spirit 
and theological bias, taking neither the views 
of a High or Low Churchman, or dissenting 
Puritan. Guizot was a philosophical Histo- 
rian, and considered civilization the aim of 
nations in particular, and of Humanity in 
general ; but unhappily the most complete of 
all civilizations in his eyes was that of France, 
though he never tells us clearly what civili- 
zation really is. He finds fault with the Eng- Guizot on 
lish, because they are genial but unsystematic, En s land - 
like their language. He thinks everything in 
England practical, but bigoted and narrow- 
minded, and considers that thepeople have con- 
tributed nothing towards an extension of the 
horizon of human intellect. " The English,'' 
he says, " are great as a nation, but not as 
individuals." In this one sentence we recog- 



742 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

nize the distorted Roman spirit, that spoke 
of the State-abstraction as an entity, without 
ever taking the citizens and their interests 
into consideration. Guizot speaks of the 
grandeur of a nation, and at the same time 
denies its existence in the individuals who 
SpSrfi! com P ose tnat nation. Such dialectical soph- 
istries have done more harm in the annals of 
History than correct reasoners can readily 
make good. If the whole be stone, the 
particles must be stone also. If a flame 
burns, all atoms of the flame must burn too. 
The Roman spirit, Roman mode of thinking, 
and Roman rhetoric which have gradually 
pervaded modern French society, through 
an undue admiration and mimicry of ancient 
Rome, with the help of the Romish Church, 
have directed the refined discernment and 
quick logic of the spirited and excitable 
French into a false groove. They accuse 
others of being too realistic and practical, 
and cannot see that they are too ideal and 
dialectical; that they are capable in " an 
outburst of civilization " of burning down 
palaces and monuments of art, like the veriest 
Vandals, and fail to understand that the true 
grandeur of the Teutonic nations consists in 
the restraint of every individual, able to 
submit his private interests to the welfare of 
the whole. So long as the French do not 
divest themselves of their Parisian mode of 
thinking and arguing, we must look upon 
their Histories and Historians as national 
curiosities and peculiarities, but we shall 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 743 

seek in vain for true Historians amongst 
them. That the French are capable of di- 
vesting themselves of their one-sidedness in 
exceptional cases, is proved by their having 
presented the world with some of the very best 
works on foreign countries. Du Halde, in Du Haide. 
his " Description Geographique et Historique 
de 1' Empire de la Chine, et de la Tartarie 
Chinoise " (Geographical and Historical De- 
scription of the Chinese Empire, and Chi- 
nese Tartary : Paris, 1735 ; four folio vols.); 
and Francois de Charlevoix, who tran- De 
scribed Engelbert ILempfer's reliable and ^^ e ™ [x ' 
excellent History and description of Japan 
(published in London, in two folio volumes, 
1727, under the title of " The History of 
Japan, together with a Description of the 
Kingdom of Si-am, written in High Dutch by 
E. Kampfer, and translated from the origi- 
nal Manuscript by J. G. Schleuchzer), have Schieuch- 
both largely contributed to a more correct zer - 
knowledge of China and Japan. Interesting, 
from an historiographical point of view, are 
the works of Nicolas L. Dufresnoy, who Dufresnoy.- 
wrote a "Method of Studying History," 
and " On the Principles of History 
("Methode pour Etudier PHistoire," and 
" Les Principes de PHistoire "). More im- 
portant, however, than any of these are the 
philological and Historical researches of An- 
quetil du Perron and Eugene Bournouf, Du Perron 
who induced Europeans to study the Zend ^ nd , 
language, enabling them to make themselves Bournouf. 
acquainted with the contents of the " Avesta." 



■)i 



744 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

A new light was thrown on the History of 
antiquity through a more correct study of 
the customs, manners and religious concep- 
tions of the Persians. Still more influential 
Yoiney. W ere the works of Count Volney (1757 — 
1 820), who undoubtedly brought about the re- 
vival of a less prejudiced study of ancient 
Chronology and History, especially that of 
Assyria, Babylon and Egypt. Volney was 
one of the most distinguished and celebrated 
men of a transition period in Europe, during 
which learning and study were not con- 
sidered the best means of advancing a 
person's private interests. His guiding star 
was Herodotus. He lived in seclusion for a 
whole year in a Coptic monastery to learn 
Arabic, and then gave the world his genial 
Voiney's " Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte ' (Travels 
in Syria 8 i n Syria and Egypt). In his " Consid^ra- 
?, nd „ tions sur la Guerre Actuelle des Turcs avec 
les Russes " (London, 1788 ; Observations on 
the Present War between the Turks and the 
Becom- Russians), Volney recommended the Western 
mended the nations to occupv Egvpt, in order to keep 

occupation . J -«'„. «' l/ .-* 

of Egypt, the Mediterranean Sea open as a commercial 

high road. His most important work, u Les 

Ruines, ou Meditations sur les Revolutions 

His work des Empires" (1791; The Ruins, or Re- 

tltwT the flections on the Revolutions of Empires), 

" Ruins." was in a great measure based on sug- 

Benjamin gestions, thrown out by Benjamin Frank- 

m * lin, the celebrated American philosopher, 

statesman and inventor of the lightning 

conductor. Ancient History is treated in 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 745 

Volney's work in broad outlines, but in the 
causes assigned for the downfall of Empires, 
he only recognises the working of a material 
law. He considers that the destructive force 
in empires consists in an exhaustion of vi- 
tality and bodily strength. Mind and intel- 
lect had no independent force in his eyes, at 
least so far as the great Asiatic empires were 
concerned. Volney was in advance of his 
times in his attempt to subject morals to 
physical laws ; but he did not succeed in 
drawing a precise distinction between phy- 
sical and moral laws ; the first, following un- 
consciously the dictates of causation ; the 
latter, becoming moral only through self- 
conscious intellect. " Faith and love," he 
stigmatized, u as virtues of idiots, invented 
in favour of rogues." Had he said blind 
faith, and animal love, he would have been 
right, but he neglected the emotional element 
of art and poetry in Humanity, and saw 
nothing but eternally combining and dis- 
solving atoms in the universe. His style 
was as lucid as his method of arguing and 
reasoning was precise. He was appointed 
Professor of History at Paris, after the fall of J 01 ; 6 *" as 

j f Jr rot6ssor 

Robespierre, and lectured with great success, of History. 
When the school was closed, he travelled 
through North America. On his return the 
Emperor Napoleon, of whom, when only Volney on 
a general, Volney had said, "if circum- Napoleon ' 
stances favour him he will show Caesar's 
head on Alexander's shoulders," made him a 
Count and Commander of the Legion of 



746 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Honour. Volney contributed largely to an 
improvement of Chronology, which was 
principally cultivated by French writers, 
and has been finally scientifically worked out 
by the Germans. Dates of sacred and pro- 
fane History were treated in an equally 
critical spirit, and many dates, to which even 
learned men in England still adhere with 
inexcusable obstinacy as religious dogmas, 
were eliminated. 
Historio- The great activity of the French on the 
Gemini ^ e ^ °f History was only surpassed by the 
during the Germans, who have gained the palm of per- 
iod nine- fection in this sphere. Like the ancient 
teenth Greeks, the Germans were forced, through 
their position, to devote themselves to the 
culture of intellect, for they were prevented 
geographically from all broader political and 
commercial activity. The Historical de- 
velopment of Germany was slow — but sure. 
It was not so brilliant as that of England, but 
profounder ; it was not so spirited as that of 
France, but more systematic. At a time 
when the English and French possessed un- 
surpassed classics in their vernacular, the 
Germans were still struggling for a lan- 
guage. The learned spoke and wrote Latin ; 
the upper classes spoke French ; whilst the 
lower classes spoke innumerable dialects, 
unintelligible to one another. The Reforma- 
tion worked miracles in a lingual direction. 
To oppose Romanism and its Latinising in- 
fluences, the most enthusiastic divines com- 
posed popular hymns, homilies, tales, fables, 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 747 

and sermons in the language of the people ; 
they continued, what Luther had begun, to 
model and re-model the German language, 
and brought it into a more harmonious and 
grammatically settled form. From the time 
of the Reformation, History became the most 
important study of the German nation. The 
old Religion of the Romish Church was 
based on prophecy, revelation, tradition, and 
History. The Apostolic succession was a 
Historical fiction; Isidores decrees a Historical 
forgery; the whole theological fabric was 
built on History, either true or false. If 
true, the Reformation had no basis ; if false, 
the Reformation had to disperse the Histori- 
cal mist, the dark clouds and gloomy night, 
and to endeavour to ascertain real facts, 
upon which to construct the new form of 
Christianity. These circumstances forced 
even the theologians to criticise, to inquire 
into, and to study the past from a Historical 
point of view. Theology was the parent of 
Historical research in Germany. Christian 
Thomasius (1655—1728) was an undaunted Thoma " 

/ sins 

intellectual hero, who devoted the whole of 
his life to fighting against prejudices in the 
educational sphere. He held up the French, 
who had learned so much from the English, 
as models worthy of imitation, and at Halle, 
in 1688, only 192 years ago, was the first to 
dare to lecture in German, and continued to 
do so. Up to that time all books of a higher 
philosophical or learned tendency had been 
written in Latin or Greek. In the construe- 



748 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

tion of a new popular vehicle to convey 
thoughts, Thomasius had also to struggle 
with antiquated, pedantic, and barren philo- 
sophical and historical systems. Whilst in 
England the Reformation was a continuation 
of Roman Catholicism, and only involved a 
formal change of some insignificant dogmatic 
details and ceremonials ; the Reformation in 
Germany was a direct cataclysm, that swept 
away a false spiritual and religious world, 
constructed for more than 1,500 years on a 
basis, the correctness of which was not only 
to be doubted, but the hollo wness and per- 
verseness of which were to be demonstrated 
on Historical grounds. When in England, 
King, Lords and Commons once had agreed 
to be Protestants, Protestantism became an 
accomplished political fact, that required no 
support either from learning or History. 
This was not the case in Germany. Protes- 
tantism had to work its way into the hearts 
of the people by means of learning, persuasion 
and, above all, through a higher intellectual 
and moral force, stimulated to continuous 
activity by an equally learned body of anta- 
gonists, the Romish priests, who had not been 
put down by the high hand of the law, as in 
England, but who appeared in the arena of 
learning as Jesuits, Benedictines, and a number 
of other monastic associations, and continued 
to teach, to argue, and to engage in Histori- 
cal, classical and philosophical controversies. 
The struggle of modern intellectual progress 
in Germany was a free and genuine war, no 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 749 

longer on sanguinary battle-fields, with guns 
and cannons, but in lecture halls, pulpits and 
ponderous books — where no human blood, 
but printer's ink, was shed in incredible 
quantities — to bring about peace, and a higher 
spiritual condition of the people. History 
was the great weapon on both sides ; written 
or unwritten, sacred or profane. The learned 
Histories of the past written by Roman 
priests were not left, as in England or Italy, 
in undisturbed authority; they were re-written 
by Protestant divines, professors and lecturers, 
who had to purge them of all impossibilities, 
incredibilities and improbabilities. Facts had 
to be newly studied and investigated, and 
their influences in the past had to be traced 
from different points of view. This movement 
led to a deeper inquiry into Historical authori- 
ties ; and aroused an unparalleled enthusiasm 
for History in the middle classes and religious 
sects. In Germany, Kings, Princes and 
Dukes took only a very moderate interest in 
this gigantic movement, to arrest the progress 
of which they were powerless. The smallness 
of their dominions made it easy for any 
learned critic or Historian, whose sceptical 
ideas were considered objectionable in one 
state, to find refuge, and often the very highest 
honours, in another. When the celebrated 
philosopher, Christian Wolf, delivered a Wolf, 
lecture at Halle, entitled " De Philosophia 
Sinensium Morali" (On the Moral Philosophy 
of the Chinese), in which he asserted that he 
could find no distinction between Christian 



750 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

and Chinese morals, and extolled the teach- 
ings of Confucius as free from all unintel- 
ligible and superflous dogmatic matter, he 
was ordered to quit the dominions of the 
first King of Prussia, on peril of being hanged, 
if found twenty -four hours after the issue of 
the order, within the frontiers of the Prussian 
Kingdom. He went over to Cassel, where he 
was appointed, with a higher stipend, at the 
University of Marburg. The spirit of criti- 
cal inquiry in the Germans was not to be 
checked or tired out. We have already stated 
that the greater Historical activity in general 
originated in theological requirements, and 
was kept in continual motion by a wholesome 
controversial energy, which engaged the 
whole thinking power of the German nation ; 
we must now refer more particularly to the 
geographical and political causes which ne- 
cessitated a broader and more correct study 
of History. Encircled by Russians, Sclavons, 
Poles, Magyars, Serbs, Croats, Italians, 
French, Belgians, Dutch, Swedes, Danes, 
Norwegians, Livonians and Courlanders ; the 
Germans were forced to know something of 
the customs, manners, mode of thinking, 
reasoning and acting of these different peoples, 
all of whom were often seen as unwelcome 
guests, sword or gun in hand, on the Spree, 
the Elbe, the "Weser, the Rhine, the Danube, 
in the plains of Central Germany, in villages 
and towns, plundering and murdering ; though 
the peaceful Germans could neither under- 
stand their languages, nor discover why they 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 751 

came to disturb the peace of the " Father- 
land. 7 ' Thus the Germans were practically 
forced to study the History, origin and lan- 
guages of these nations. This was a further 
cause of the universality of learning prevailing 
in Germany. There is not a single Histori- 
cal work of any importance, written in any 
European or Asiatic language, that is not 
translated into German ; and this is no ex- 
aggeration, but a simple fact. All the classi- 
cal and Historical works of the Chinese and 
Japanese are translated, commented upon, 
and brought into systematic order. All that 
has been written on India, Assyria, Babylon 
or Egypt by French, Italian, English, Arabian 
or any other foreign authors, exists in Ger- 
man, augmented by a vast amount of original 
research, and carefully arranged. Philolo- 
gical, mythical and Historical similarities or 
differences are pointed out, and analogies 
and comparisons drawn. No Historical phe- 
nomenon — and nations are merely embodied 
phenomena of History — has been treated by 
the Germans as insignificant. Through a 
thorough classical training they acquired a 
deeper insight into the astounding same- 
ness of human nature. In practical contact 
with all the religious sects and nationali- 
ties of Europe, they could not help seeing 
that each nation, each religious sect, had 
good and bad, wise and foolish, learned 
and ignorant members ; but that in all of 
them the noble, the virtuous, the generous 
and the humane prevailed, if not distorted 



752 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

by foolish Governments or religious halluci- 
Gnesbach. nations. Joliann Jacob Griesbach (1745 — 
1812) was the first scientifically to inquire 
into the credibility and trustworthiness of 
Historians, in a work which was published 
in Latin under the title " De Fide Historice 
ex ipsa rerum, quae narrantur, natura dijudi- 
canda" Halis, 1768, 4to (On Faith in His- 
tory, Judged by the Nature of the Things Re- 
Wegeiin. feted). Jacob Daniel Wegelin (1751— 179 1) 
published Letters " On the Necessity of 
Chiadenius. Studying History," and Johann Martin Chla- 
l>enius (1710 — i759) wrote a work, which 
he called " The General Science of History" 
(1752). More than 127 years ago the Ger- 
mans recognised the possibility of a scientific 
treatment of History, and yet we find in 
Fallacies English publications such passages as the 
in discus- following: u The Historian, who is also an 

sing . © ? m 

History in artist, is exposed to a particular drawback 



our own 



from which his brethren in other fields are 
exempt. The mere lapse of time destroys 
the value and even the fidelity of his pic- 
tures." If this were the case, the writer 
could certainly have been no artist, and least 
of all a Historian. " In other arts correct 
colouring and outline remain correct, and, if 
they are combined with imaginative power, 
age rather enhances than diminishes their 
worth. But the Historian lives under another 
law. His reproduction of a past age, how- 
ever full and true it may appear to his con- 
temporaries, appears less and less true to his 
successors." This is poor logic ! If state- 



THE SCIENCE OP HISTORY. 753 

ments are full and true, they cannot possibly- 
become less and less true. Chemistry is a 
science, notwithstanding* the fact that the 
four primary elements have been dissolved 
into some seventy-two, which may perhaps 
be augmented in time to 140. Anatomy, 
zoology, botany, &c, have had their phases 
of development, their inaccuracies, and ex- 
ploded hypotheses, yet they are admittedly 
sciences. Surely it is unreasonable that, 
whilst every branch of human knowledge is 
allowed to have a scientific side, History 
should be denied the same privilege. The 
fact that the social organism continually 
grows and receives new additions, cannot 
possibly prevent the study of the past, if we 
are honest, and apply the same logic to 
History, as we are forced to use in any other 
subject. The theological cloven-foot is per- Causes of 
ceptible in all false reasonings of this kind. thesefaise 
Doubt must be thrown on profane His- 
tories, in order to maintain sacred History 
in its integrity and truthfulnesss. But do 
such writers not feel that their aspersion of 
profane History must in the end recoil on 
their own self-chosen Histories, which they 
consider full and true for ever, though they 
were written at periods when Historiography 
was in its childhood ? That the Historical 
development of Humanity is still in progress, 
can be no excuse for not studying the muta- 
tions, phases and evolutions through which it 
has passed. Should we cease to occupy our- 
selves with meteorology, because the clouds 

3 G 



754 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

continuously vary, and unexpected showers, 
storms and electric shocks interrupt our cal- 
culations ? The mighty genius, Gotthold 
Lessing. Ephraim Lessing (1729 — 1781), boldly at- 
tacked all antiquated traditions, prejudices 
and fallacies, especially with regard to sacred 
History. He proclaimed the grand doctrine 
of toleration, not as a mere emotional ele- 
ment, but as a necessity for the higher cul- 
ture of Humanity. He taught us to honour 
all religions, in whatever shape, and to look 
to man's moral actions alone, not to religious 
brain-crystallizations, formed through outer- 
influences. Man's unalloyed and true human 
nature was to be the essential ; and on this 
basis alone History, from a general point ot 
Opposes yi ew? became a possibility. Lessing revolted 
customs, against idle customs, prescribed formulae, set 
notions, time-honoured prejudices ; and re- 
cognised no authority in matters of art and 
science, but the laws of beauty and reason. 
He could not patiently hear pompous masters 
talking with unctuous verbiage on matters 
of which they could not possibly know any- 
thing. He could not see the good of proving 
that the French must have been the descend- 
ants of Hector of Troy; that the city of 
Paris had been named after the shepherd 
Paris ; that Nuremberg had derived its name 
from Nero ; that the Gauls or Gales were 
the direct descendants of Galatea, a female 
descendant of Japhet ; that Silesia had been 
so called by the prophet Elijah ; or that the 
Saracens were the direct descendants of 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 755 

Sarah, the wife of Abraham, who built the 
town of Zurich. Deeply sensible of the nar- 
row-mindedness and intellectual blindness of 
his times, Lessing, only a century and a half 
ago, made it his duty to oppose all myste- Opposes 
rious and mystic nonsense — not by laughing m y sllusm - 
at it, like Voltaire, but by exposing its hol- 
lowness and rottenness. He inculcated the 
most important lesson, that it is not more 
troublesome to learn sense than nonsense ; 
and proved, from every page of History, that 
the study of nonsense had been pernicious, 
leading to animosity and bloodshed ; whilst 
sense had invariably promoted all our higher 
moral and intellectual faculties. With a 
knowledge of Hebrew, Greek, Latin and 
French, and an immense store of Historical 
learning, Lessing successfully attacked idling 
monks and nuns, bigoted pastors and igno- 
rant preachers. With deep earnestness he held 
up pedants to ridicule ; hypocrites to scorn ; 
cheats to contempt ; dialecticians to derision, 
and false moralists to mockery. He worked 
on the same field as the Deists of England, 
and Voltaire in France, but with different 
weapons. He used the ponderous club of 
deep learning, and crushed his antagonists 
with the sledge-hammer of Logic, and laid 
the very foundation on which modern thought 
and modern progress in Historiography have 
developed. He cautioned Historians and 
public teachers, not to take anything for 
granted ; for man's most glorious and essen- 
tial element is his eternal striving after truth. 

3c 2 



7 0(3 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

I.ewin* on "Not truth," SayS LeSSlllg, C( ill the possession 

truth.*' f w hieh man believes himself to be, but his 
sincere endeavours tofind out truth, constitute 
man's real value. Not the possession of truth 
(especially an assumed truth), but our restless 
spirit of inquiry, straining our powers, leads 
to an ever increasing and growing perfection. 
Possession makes us too secure, sluggish 
and proud. It* God were to hold truth in 
His right hand, and in His left the ever- 
active longing for truth, though under the con- 
dition continually to err, and were to bid me 

* 

choose : .1 would humbly grasp His left, and 
exclaim, k Father, let me have this gift — 
pure truth is for Thee alone!' These 
words formed the basis on which History 
was, from that time, studied in Germany. 
The conceited pedants were, if not altogether 
silenced, at least made more cautious ; mere 
assumptions and assertions went for nothing. 
Eassing's Like voung David in the Jewish myth, Les- 
sing- stood firm in the realms of intellect, 
hurling fact- stones from his critical sling at 
the priestly Goliaths who arranged History, 
misquoted, or only quoted what suited them; 
who spoke from a thousand corners and plat- 
forms — in churches, chapels, universities, 
colleges and lecture halls — repeating, with 
systematic uniformity, the same notions, and 
hammering them into the brains of the 
masses. The dogmatic giants had to yield to 
the isolated power of Lessing, who — a second 
Luther on the field of art and History — tried 
to put an end to sham learning and eternal 



influence. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 757 

falsifications. Religion was in future only 
so far to have an influence, as it stood on His- 
torical ground : it was to be studied in its 
effect on the moral progress of the masses, 
and not according to the one-sided and biassed 
assertions of interested votaries. Johann 
Gottfried Herder (1744 — 1803) continued Herder, 
what Lessing had begun on the field of 
criticism, in the sphere of practical His- 
toriography. His imagination was, how- 
ever, too lively, and his knowledge more 
varied than profound ; he possessed more 
passion than cool reflection, and even in 
prose remained a poet, often connecting with 
his mighty fantasy what reason would have 
kept separate. He had been educated as a 
theologian, and could not altogether divest 
himself of a prophetic and inspired tone ; but 
his inspirations were always noble, and, Herder 
above all, humane. We may look upon him first takes 
as the founder of Physical Geography in con- Geography 
nection with History. He was the first to into 
draw the attention of students of Histori- tioTin" 
ography to the geographical configuration of connection 
the different countries, inhabited by different History, 
nations ; to mountain ranges ; to the influ- 
ence of plants and vegetable products, of 
animals and animal food ; and to man in his 
bodily and mental organization, whom he 
declares to have been created for immortality 
and hope, for virtue and truth. He must be 
considered the founder of ethnology, for he 
discourses on the various organizations of 
the people, inhabiting the highlands or plains 



758 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

of Asia ; of the Africans ; the islanders in 
the tropics ; and the American aborigines. 
He asserts man to be the master of Cre- 
ation through his exceptional faculty, the 
power of expressing sensations, emotions 
and ideas in language and writing. He 
was the first to begin History with the oldest 
known nation on earth — the Chinese — and 
assigned to the Jews their right place. Japan, 
Thibet and Hindustan, Persia, Babylon, As- 
syria, Phoenicia, Chaldsea, the Hebrews and 
Egypt are discussed, before he attempts to 
tread on the historical ground of the Greeks. 
He was the first to discard mere chance ; and, 
though he did not succeed in tracing law, he 
saw in the destinies of mankind the working 
of an equally benevolent Providence, shower- 
ing down light and rain on all the peoples 
of the earth with loving impartiality. His 
work, " Ideen zur Philosophic der Geschichte 
der Menschheit " (Ideas on the Philosophy of 
the History of Mankind) was a glorious at- 
tempt to treat History with a universal grasp, 
never before attained by any other writer. 
Fichte. He was followed by Johann Gottlieb Fichte 
(1762 — 1814), who asserted History to be 
the safest and most impressive, the truest and 
only reliable teacher of Humanity. How- 
ever idealistic and obscure Fichte may have 
been in his system of philosophy, he was 
clear and intelligible when he stood on His- 
torical ground. In philosophy, and in the 
laying down of correct principles in History, 
he was far surpassed by his antagonist and con- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 759 

temporary, Immarmel Kant (1755 — 1804). immanuei 
Our modern mode of thinking is entirely- 
based on the philosophical system, worked 
out by this Shakespeare of Philosophy. He 
was the greatest genius of our times, and 
brought all the preceding metaphysical, tele- 
ological, dogmatic and theological systems 
to a satisfactory conclusion ; by showing how 
little of the supersensual our finite intel- 
lect can grasp. He distinguished between Distinction 
opinions, faith and knowledge. History in be ! ween 

-cf • *, n ■ • • T^ i 1 opinons, 

r ranee is a matter ot opinion, in -England a faith and 
matter of faith, and in Germany a matter of \^Z~ 
knowledge. We may have reasons for making 
a statement, but these may be based on 
an utterly subjective conviction: subjective 
convictions are merely opinions, and do not 
exclude doubt. On the other hand, we may r 
assume a statement to be true, because we 
think it has been made by some authority ; 
that is, we base our assertion on faith. If, 
however, our conviction be based on objective 
observation, verified according to the laws 
of correct ratiocination, it rises into the reli- 
able domain of knowledge. By applying 
these important distinctions to the study and 
composition of History, we have been ena- 
bled by Kant to draw more definite lines 
of demarcation between the possible and the 
impossible, the necessary and the accidental. 
His method of treating physical, moral and How to 
Historical phenomena changed the whole nomena!" 
system of our studies. Creation was not as- 
sumed to have taken place according to a 



760 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

certain Scriptural dictum; but the earth's crust 
was to be investigated in order to enable us 
to ascertain, how far we might trace the gra- 
dual formation of our globe. Thus Geology, 
Leopold worked out by Leopold Buch and Sir Charles 
and^ir -^yell, was engendered, and this again led to 
Charles Cosmology, brought into a scientific form 
A?exander by Alexander von Humboldt, paving the 
von way for Darwinism, the great theory of evo- 

Da r ? ° ' lution. Kant insisted upon the study of 
winism. Ethnology and Anthropology, comparative 
Philology and Mythology. Language was 
not to be looked upon as a settled gift, but 
was to be traced back to its origin ; this was 
also to be done with the different ancient 
religions. We were not to suppose that mil- 
lions had been left without religious comfort, 
but to investigate and ascertain, how far reli- 
gious systems are rooted in the impressions 
of nature, and how far they represent the 
moral and social condition of certain groups 
of mankind. These investigations naturally 
produced a closer study of the nature of 
Biology. man? leading to Biology and Sociology, and, 
as the crowning effort of human learning, to 
History, a deeper and more systematic study of His- 
tory. 
Scheiiing. Frederick William J. Schelling, and his 
staid. pupil, Frederick Julius Stahl, saw in His- 
tory the reflex of cosmical order ; based, ac- 
cording to the former, on Freedom, and 
according to the latter, on Right. Both, 
however, are silent on the coexistence of 
necessity and freedom, of right and wrong. 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 761 

and do not give us a clear notion of what 
will, especially the will of God, is ; though, 
driven to the logical necessity of assuming a 
first cause, they call it the " Will of God." 
This mysterious first cause really explains 
nothing ; for we may ask : How far did God 
will that man should be free ? What is 
God's will as to right ? Where are the limits 
of man's freedom ? Where does his right 
end, and what is the destiny assigned to man 
in History ? Neither Schelling nor Stahl 
were able to answer these questions, the so- 
lution of which Hegel attempted in his Hegel. 
" Philosophy of History " (Berlin, 1804). 
His work has been translated into English, 
but very badly ; and this is perhaps not sur- 
prising ; for not even those, thoroughly ac- 
quainted with the German original, can 
understand the masterly dialectical produc- 
tion of the great German thinker. He al- 
ways delighted in oracular unintelligibilities, 
the last of which he uttered when dying, in 
the words, " Only one man understood me, 
and even he misunderstood me." Necessity 
and Liberty, the objective and subjective, 
realism and idealism, were to be brought into 
union ; but this can never be done in His- 
tory, except by an assumption of primitive 
forces, the seat of which must be our 
bodily organization producing mental ac- 
tivity. Hegel's "Weltgeist," meaning " In- Hegel's 
tellect pervading the Universe " (when ren- "JJj?5" 
dered into English as " World-Spirit " the 
word becomes meaningless), really only em- 



762 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

bodies the fact that everything in the pheno- 
mena of History depends on the law of 
causation, in which we can trace the mani- 
festations of a ruling supreme intellect ; which 
at the same time becomes perfect freedom in 
necessity, or rather the necessary freedom in 
the concatenation of cause and effect. Fre- 

Schiegei. derick Schlegel has given us a Philosophy 
of History, which, though well written, is 
entirely valueless, as he treats everything 
with a biassed Roman Catholic mind. He 
sees in Sckelling's " Absolute Entity," and 
in Hegel's " Weltgeist," the Roman Catholic 
Deity, with the Pope as his Regent on earth, 
arranging and guiding the Historical desti- 
nies of mankind in an inscrutable and myste- 
rious manner. Schlegel discards man as an 
intellectually and morally endowed entity, 
and degrades him to a mere automaton in the 

wniiam hands of God, popes and priests. Wm. von 

Humboldt. Humboldt was a more independent thinker, 
and his advice on the composition of History, 
concentrated in an essay, " On the Task of 
a Historian," in the edition of his works pub- 
lished in Berlin in 1841, is most valuable. 
Humboldt, like Herder, looks on History 
from an ideal point of view, and counsels us 
to find for every phenomenon a correspond- 
ing cause ; but he was too much a philo- 
logist and Prussian diplomatist to grasp the 
real importance of History. Far different 

:>ervinus. was the learned Gekvinus, the unsurpassed 
Historian of " German Literature," who, in 
his " Grundziige der Historik " (Funda- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 763 

mental Principles of History, Leipsic, 1837), 
assigns to the study of History the highest 
and most important place. He considers 
History best fitted to promote the culture of 
our intellect, to arouse our true moral nature, 
to oppose all stagnation in science and poli- 
tics, and to make us worthy of the position 
which we occupy as self-conscious human 
beings. 

We have enumerated the greatest philo- 
sophical Historians of Germany, and must 
remark that their works are scarcely known 
in England. Very few of them are trans- 
lated, and these few have been rendered into 
English in a most slovenly and indifferent 
manner, as they have for the most part been 
produced as mere printing speculations. The 
semi-learned and bigoted University authori- 
ties object to the study of general History, 
as likely to awaken a spirit of inquiry into 
matters which can only be kept sacred, when 
sheltered from the searching light of His- 
torical criticism. The Germans, on the 
other hand, were, and still are, indefatigable 
on the field of general and special History. 
Johann Christian Gatterer (1727 — 179y) Gatterer. 
more than a hundred years ago endeavoured 
to treat History as Linnaeus treated botany, 
and strove to bring nations, facts, and dates 
into categories, analogous to the classifica- 
tion of plants. He lost himself in hypo- 
thetical divisions and subdivisions, sacrificing 
comprehensibility to utterly insignificant 
details. August Ludwig Schlcezer (1735 — Schiozer. 



764 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

1809) composed his Universal History in a 
broad spirit, and was the first to treat the 
History of Russia in a higher ethnological 
and scientific sense. Equally meritorious 

Moser. were Justus Mceser and Johannes von 

Muiier. Mueller (1725—1809). The latter has left 
us u A Universal History in twenty- four 
Books," very well translated, and published 
by Longman and Co., in three volumes (1818). 
The book was written, as he himself says, 
" Some years before those great political 
explosions, which to some persons appear to 
promise, and to others to threaten, a new 
order of things," and this will explain the 
sketchiness of the composition. He sought 
to emulate the brevity and conciseness of 
Tacitus, and endeavoured to heap up the 
greatest amount of detail in the smallest 
possible compass ; so that his History reads 
more like a syllabus than an elaborate and 
learned work. He made a point of using 
only such works as deserved to be ranked 
among u the reliable sources of Historical 
information." He errs, in common with so 
many Historians, in being too detailed, 
and at the same time, omits facts which 
must have been known to him, and which 
had a far greater influence than the petty 
minutiae which he narrates. German His- 
toriography of the nineteenth century opened 

Eichhom. w i t i x j h n Gottfried Eichhorn (1752—1827), 
who treated Oriental History with masterly 
comprehensiveness. In this he was even 

Heeren. surpassed by Arnold Heeren, who took 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 765 

Polybius as a model, and gives us a deep 
insight into the politics, intercourse, and 
commerce of the ancient Assyrians, Baby- 
lonians, Egyptians and Greeks. His work 
is a standard classical Historical composition 
that will never alter in value, whatever the 
amount of newly-added material may be. 
Equally important are the works of Professor 
von Bohlen, who, with De Wette, Gesenius, Bohien. 
Jost, Tuch, and Ewald, contributed to cor- 
rect, rectify and explain the Histories of 
Ancient India and Egypt, and above all, to 
treat the History of the Hebrews on a plan 
of independent research. Those who live in 
ignorance of these writers, and the results of 
their indefatigable and honest inquiries, may 
be very good people, but they are in a state 
of intellectual blindness, produced by wilful 
superstition, which is the more inexcusable, 
as it is only kept up by artificial and 
entirely objectionable means, through the 
persistent falsification of the past. To 
meet the views of such persons as these, 
the learned, yet biassed, Ch. von Pcelitz Poiitz. 
(1772 — 1838) wrote a Universal History for 
Protestants and German officials, in a dry 
and spiritless style. He was, however, beaten 
out of the field by the classically-trained 
von Potteck, whose " Universal History " Rotteck ' 
is written in a spirit of poetical enthusiasm 
for everything noble and grand. His style 
is elegant, his reasoning correct, and he 
recognises that the highest attainment in a 
Historian is to treat facts so that no reader 



766 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

can trace his nationality or religious ojDinions 
in bis work. He finds it difficult, however, 
to avoid favouring his own country and 
nation to some extent. To prove how tho- 
roughly he understood and carried out the 
vocation of a genuine Historian in delineating 
the past with impartiality, we may mention 
that though himself a Roman Catholic he 
has given us a most valuable, exhaustive and 
unbiassed account of the causes and effects 
of the Reformation. He is as methodical as 
impartial, and his great work will always be 
one of the most reliable manuals for all 
students of General History. Higher even 
than Rotteck stands the giant of German His- 
Schiosser. tonography, Frederick Christopher Schlos- 
ser. The amount of reliable detail in this 
work is so vast, the grasp of events in their 
connection is so correct ; the illustrations of 
the customs, social conditions, literary and 
artistic products, and the industrial and com- 
mercial exertions of different nations at diffe- 
rent periods are so interesting and vivid, 
that his History may justly claim to rank as 
one of the monumental Historical composi- 
tions of the nineteenth century. In spite 
of some individual predilections, and some 
badly-disguised animosities against modern 
youthful free-thinkers and sceptics of the 
French school, he serves as the very best 
model for writing History. Notwithstanding 
his excellence, Schlosser does not stand alone 
with his ' ' Universal History of the World, " an d 
his pragmatical ' ' History of the Eighteenth 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 7G7 

Century," excellently translated into English 
by D. Davison, M.A. (London, 1843). He 
is, if not surpassed, at least equalled, by 
Moritz ArndTj whose " Universal History " Aradt - 
was written to awaken in the Germans a 
freer feeling of constitutionalism, based on 
true patriotism. George Weber uses the Weber. 
most recently-acquired information with re- 
gard to China, India and Egypt, and his 
work is in this respect superior to that of 
Becker (1777 — 1806), which, though highly Becker. 
commendable for classical History, is rather 
deficient in modern research concerning an- 
cient Asia. 

Readers may form some idea of the activity The great 
of German Historians from the fact that not ^ [yit 7 of 
less than 254 independent Historical works in 
of importance have been published during Germfm y- 
this century by Germans alone. Amongst 
these are the names of Neander, Dahlmann, 
Niebuhr, Curtius, Mommsen, Ranke, Gorres, 
Hormayr, Pfister, W. Menzel, and H. v. 
Sybel. All agree that the past should be 
studied as the direct cause of the present, and 
that the future progress in every nation must 
be dependent on the degree of mental re- 
finement and moral culture, acquired through 
a correct study of History. In the Eastern 
parts of the world the sparks of freedom are 
yet scarcely kindled ; in other portions of 
the globe, burning questions threaten to burst 
into destructive flames. In the West and 
North- West of Europe we have acquired a 
consciousness of man's destiny, through a 



768 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

deeper understanding of History, and in 
England we have learned since 1851, when 

Consort nce ^ ne & en i us 0I> ^ ne lamented Prince Consort 
destroyed for ever our insular position, that 
we are after all merely particles of a whole. 
In opening to the inspection of all nations 
the artistic and industrial products of the 
world, the word u International " dawned 
upon us in all its glorious meaning for the 
first time. Timidly we quitted our oyster- 
shells of national pride and prejudices ; re- 
. luctantly we discarded our narrow theo- 
logical pretensions, and our ignorant and 
ridiculous contempt for everything beyond 
our island. We were suddenly enabled to 
discriminate between true national greatness 
and mere national presumption; we insti- 
tuted schools of art, and only nine years ago, 
forced the youth of England into our Board 
Schools. The more nations become ac- 
quainted with the causes of the commotions 
and volcanic throes in other nations, the 
more surely will they be able themselves to 
The sure avoid them. "War and its horrors will 
the study gradually disappear, private and national 

in tfi St ° ry r ^^^ s w iH ^ e better understood, tyranny 
and oppression on the one hand, and popular 
revolutions and violence on the other, will 
be rendered powerless," and there will be an 
incontrovertible illustration of the truth, that 
" Historical knowledge is power." 

Nature, as the eternal storehouse of man's 

Nature the i m p re ssions, sensations and ideas, and His- 

Storehouse ■* 7 " _ • 

and tory, as the record of the enects produced by 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 769 

our moral and intellectual forces manifesting 5 lstory 
themselves in actions, must be our most im- Record. 
portant studies. The sphere of History is 
certainly immense ; for man, with all his in- 
dividual and collective thoughts and achieve- 
ments, is comprised in it. But, because the 
sphere is so vast, we need not shrink from 
looking round in it. Frederick Schiller, Frederick 
one of the greatest German poets, and for & er ' 
that very reason an indifferent Historian, 
when appointed Professor at Jena (1789) 
demonstrated, in an exhaustive introductory 
lecture, the usefulness of History, and at the 
same time pointed out the opposition which 
it had to encounter. Theologians and pe- The 
dants are its greatest enemies. They hate °^tory. 
reforms, they despise inquiry, and have a 
horror of comparisons and analogies. There 
is no more implacable enemy to progress, no 
more envious opponent to research, than the 
narrow-minded fanatic, who knows only too 
well that a free inquiry must scatter his 
cherished assumptions to the winds, as so 
many empty delusions. Trembling for their 
daily bread, dependent on antiquated fal- 
lacies, the bigoted everywhere obstruct the 
path of History. But the power of progress 
is stronger than all their wild exertions. 
History will assert its rights in the West, 
and we trust this work may to some extent 
assist its progress in the farthest East. For 
there is no branch of learning which should 
be cultivated with greater assiduity, perse- 
verance, love and enthusiasm than History. 

3 D 



— • 



770 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

Effects of What appears in single individuals to be mere 
of History, chance, or the result of coincidence, must be 
looked upon in Humanity as subject to law, 
like any other natural phenomenon ; though 
in the one case unconscious material particles 
are the elements, whilst in History, man, 
with his consciousness, his relative free will, 
his passions, and his moral and intellectual 
capacities, is the complicated agent. These 
Historical agents, as individuals, as well as 
nations, whilst they appear to work against 
one another, or to have only their own ego- 
tistic aims in view, are unconsciously acting 
according to certain laws to accomplish the 
grand destiny of mankind. If it may be 
assumed as an axiom, " that the natural 
capacities of a creature tend to develop ac- 
cording to a purpose," we may assert that 
this must be the case with man also. Applied 
to animals, we find this law producing natural 
Natural selection, and any organ not wanted is 
thrown off. In man, though he is the only 
consciously reasoning, speaking and writing 
creature on earth, his natural capacities are 
destined to be developed in the genus, and 
not in the individual (see introductory chap- 
ter). Thus, the study of a single human 
individual is — like the dissection of a single 
fly, without any cognizance of the different 
varieties of insects — isolated, detached, and 
of very limited use. Historical progress is 
not the mere result of the exertions of single 
individuals; for those very individuals are 
the outgrowths of generations after genera- 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 771 

tions. Man inherits his mode of thinking 
and acting ; he finally matures the innate 
moral and intellectual germs into fruits, 
which in their turn become the seeds of 
further developments. 

History is said to be but one long series Wars ana 
of wars, murders, conquests, intrigues, oppo- effects, 
sitions of individuals against individuals, of 
families against families, of tribes against 
tribes, and of nations against nations, as 
though man only delighted in destruction 
and ruin. But is this so ? On the contrary, 
what unphilosophical minds bewail, is merely 
a process in eternal operation to attain in the 
end the greatest amount of happiness for 
mankind, through a correct balance between 
those very forces that produce the different 
historical phenomena. Wars, controversies, 
passion and strife lead to activity, and 
activity is life. Wars engender — peace ; 
controversies — truth ; covet ousness - — com- 
mercial enterprise ; passion — virtue ; and 
strife — brotherly love and good will. Action 
and reaction, love and antagonism, drive us 
to seek the solution of the problem that ought 
most prominently to occupy humanity; to 
form one grand community perfectly bal- 
anced in its moral and intellectual forces. 
History is but the outer result of these inner 
forces, working in humanity, according to a 
pre-arranged law, which must be as fixed as 
that by which the solar systems are brought 
into order and cohesion. The task of His- 
torians is to trace this law, whether in the 



772 THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 

History of single individuals, nations, or 

humanity at large. 
We find In the unconscious regions of the empire 
ev , ery " 1 of nature — in stars and nebulae, solar sys- 

wnere law ,,. , , . r , < . 

and order, terns, crystallizations and chemical combi- 
nations — we are indefatigable in tracing law 
and order ; and only the stages of man's moral 
and intellectual activity, as they present 
themselves in History, forming man's life, 
are to be left unexplored. Although we as- 
sume that the minutest creatures are worthy 
of our highest attention ; we turn last of all 
to humanity in its historical development, as 
though man, in his bodily and mental nature, 
were the object least deserving of scientific 
Our aim consideration. Yet there can be no greater 
must be to a ^ an( j enc [ £ a rj our studies than to utilize 

utilize the . , „ 

past. the past m order to promote our own welfare 
and that of humanity, by tracing law and 
order in the destinies of man. 

Conclusion "We have endeavoured to lay before our 
readers an impartial and unprejudiced His- 
tory of Histories. We have striven to neglect 
nothing that might be of practical and philo- 
sophical use to those who may wish to study, 
and to write History. Whether they devote 
themselves to general, pragmatical, or partial 
History, they will have to make their re- 
searches, compilations of facts, and general 
deductions of cause and effect, on those prin- 
ciples which, as we have shown, afford the 
only possible explanation of the complicated 
phenomena of History. We have sought to 
furnish students with correct views of the 



THE SCIENCE OF HISTORY. 773 

gradual development of humanity; and, as 
complete a critical list of the best historical 
works, as space would permit. The sources 
from which Western Historians obtained their 
knowledge of the past, are conscientiously- 
recorded in our pages, and we venture to 
claim to have pointed out the possibility of 
treating History on a strictly scientific basis. 
What gravitation is in the cosmos, manifest- 
ing itself as attraction or repulsion, is in man 
— consciousness, manifesting itself in morals 
and intellect. Harmony in the universe is 
only maintained through a perfect balance of 
attraction and repulsion. Man can only 
have one possible aim, to bring about, indi- 
vidually and collectively, a perfect balance 
between the two forces working in humanity ; 
by this means to promote the happiness of 
the greatest possible number of human 
beings, united into one loving brotherhood, 
subject to analogous laws, striving to fulfil 
our great common destiny — to Humanize 
and Civilize Humanity. 



W. H. and L. Collingbipge, City Press, 128 and 129, Aldersgate Street, E.d 



y 



LIBRARY OF 




G018498 942 6 



